A film classic!
Peter O'Toole and Petula Clark shine in this vastly underrated 1969 musical adaptation of James Hilton's classic novel. Beautifully directed by Herbert Ross, this film deserves to be restored to its 70MM / 6 track stereophonic glory and released in theaters and on widescreen DVD.
This is a heart-warming film for the entire family. Some would argue the acting isn't great, O'Toole can't sing and Robert Donat was better in the 1939 original. They miss the point. This film has a soul. It has grace, charm, warmth, music and is in a class of its own. I didn't expect to like this film and its songs -- but I do. Leslie Bricusse and John Williams won the Oscar for Best Music, Score of a Musical Picture (Original or Adaptation) and picked up the Golden Globe as well. O'Toole was nominated for, but did not win, the Oscar that year. However he did win the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actor - Musical/Comedy and the NBR Best Actor Award for this film. And Petula Clark sings...
"Chips" is glorious!
"Goodbye, Mr. Chips" was a huge surprise to me when I first saw it in 1969. I had read the reviews (but most critics panned musicals no matter how much they really enjoyed them). I hadn't read anything that credited the tremendous quality lavished on every component of the film. Peter O'Toole, whose performance was singled out by most critics, is startlingly wonderful as the shy, yet intensely interesting Mr. Chippings. Petula Clark is totally luminous as Katherine. It was a wonderful follow-up role to her stunning debut in "Finian's Rainbow". We are most unfortunate that we never got more of her musical talents on film.
The music is stunning. You just don't hear music arranged/orchestrated like this any more. Most of the lyrics are simplistic, and often quite funny, but I think they all are endearing and enduring. I have friends who love this film as much as I. Whenever one of us is ready for another look (via the widescreen MGM laserdisc...not YET available on DVD,...
This Chips Needs to Be on DVD!!
With all the films going on DVD, there is no reason why this musical version of "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" should be released immediately. There has never been a more sensitive, completely vulnerable performance than that of Peter O'Toole--with a devastating long close-up shot as he says goodbye to his school as he retires. And, I'm sorry, but Petula Clark has just the right theatricality for her role as a West End musical comedy star. Her performance rings much truer than Julie Andrews pale rendering of Gertrude Lawrence in "Star." Finally there's the score which is the epitome of a movie musical score, with "Walk Through the World With Me", "You and I", "What a Bunch of Flowers" and "London" as great examples of cinematic musical numbers. There's even an added treat in the comic turn of Siann Phillips as Tallulah Bankhead wanna be Ursula. How many five star reviews does it take to get MGM to put this "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" on DVD?
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