Goodbye, Mr. Chips

Open the dictionary, under the word charming it says Goodbye, Mr Chips. Mr Charles Chipping is a very shy young man, he starts teaching at Brookfield, an all boys English school. His early days at the school don't go very well at all, after coming close to losing his job he goes too far by way of discipline and costs the school dearly by way of a sporting tradition. It seems that all the school is against him, be it the children or his fellow teachers, Mr Chipping can't do right for doing wrong. Whilst taking a holiday in the Austrian Alps, Chipping meets Katherine Ellis, from there his life…

What a gorgeous, gentle, film about the end of empire and of an era that showed a culture of respect and deference that has now long since vanished. Robert Donat always managed to portray the quintessential Englishman well - if, at times, in a little overly stilted fashion; and with Greer Garson's beautiful representation of a lady of the times this leaves us with a slightly warm feeling. Certainly, it doesn't not promote any equality amongst the sexes, but the "Blue Danube" scene has to be amongst the most romantic ever committed to film.