Memories of a Boys' School Headmaster

Robert Donat as Chips. 

Based on James Hilton's novella, Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) follows the life of Mr. Charles Chipping (Robert Donat), a shy and somewhat rigid Latin teacher at the English boys’ school Brookfield. Early in his career, he struggles to connect with students and colleagues, remaining an unremarkable figure—until a chance meeting changes everything.

While on holiday in the Alps, Chipping meets Katherine Ellis (Greer Garson), a warm, spirited young woman who sees the kindness beneath his stiff exterior. Their marriage transforms him: he becomes more confident and more compassionate--and also more respected by his students.

Told in flashback, as an elderly "Chips" reflects on his life, Goodbye, Mr. Chips uses a narrative structure built almost entirely from vignettes. Each one is a brief, self‑contained memory from Chips' long life at Brookfield. The film unfolds as though we are moving through his own recollections—quick flashes of defining moments: his disastrous first class of unruly boys, the sting of being passed over for headmaster, the quiet heroism of teaching while bombs fall during World War I. These scenes don’t build a traditional plot so much as accumulate emotional weight, showing how a seemingly modest life becomes meaningful through countless small encounters.

Greer Garson and Donat.

The only extended sequence in the film is the section in which Chips meets, courts, and marries Katherine. Even that runs less than half an hour, but in the context of his life it represents a turning point—the brief, luminous period that reshapes everything that follows. Because Katherine’s influence transforms Chips from a timid, overlooked teacher into the beloved figure remembered by generations of students, it makes sense that the film lingers there. 

Robert Donat carries film wonderfully, portraying Chips as a young man, a middle-aged teacher, and an elderly retired headmaster. His performance earned him a Best Actor Oscar at the 12th Academy Awards against competitors that included Clark Gable (Gone with the Wind), Laurence Olivier (Wuthering Heights), and James Stewart (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington). 

Greer Garson was nominated for Best Actress despite her brief screen time (losing the award to Vivien Leigh). It remains one of Garson's best performances--she lights up the screen as Katherine. In fact, my only quibble with Goodbye, Mr. Chips is that Katherine's role in Chips' story is so small. I understand this is the story as Hilton wrote it--and that he is making a point about how brief periods in one's life may have the greatest impact. That still doesn't negate the fact that Garson makes Katherine so charming, intelligent, and caring that one wants to see more of her!

There have been three other adaptations of Goodbye, Mr. Chips. Peter O'Toole and Petula Clark starred in a pleasant (if overlong) musical version in 1969. A British miniseries in 1984 starred Roy Marsden (Dalgliesh) as Chips and Martin Clunes (Doc Martin) played the character in a 2002 made-for-TV film.

The Five Best Greer Garson Performances

As Paula in Random Harvest.

1. Random Harvest - At the end of World War I, an entertainer named Paula (Greer Gardson) falls in love with a amnesiac known only as Smithy (Ronald Colman). They marry, have a child, and live blissfully in the English countryside. Then one day, Smithy journeys alone to Liverpool and is struck by a taxi. When he awakes, he remembers his life as the affluent Charles Rainer--but he has forgotten his life as Smithy. Years later, he hires Paula--still not knowing who she is--to work for him. Greer Garson is brilliant as a woman who spends every day with the love of her life, but never reveals her identity. It's a poignant performance made all the more powerful because Garson makes Paula a strong, independent woman. The impact of the final scene rests solely on Garson's shoulders and she pulls it off with aplomb.

2. Pride and Prejudice - Greer Garson was 36-years-old when she played Jane Austen's plucky 20-year-old heroine Elizabeth Bennett. It's something I notice during the opening frames of Pride and Prejudice (1940)--and then totally forget. That's because Garson finds the strength, intelligence, and playful wit in Elizabeth, making this adaptation one of my favorite ones of Austen's classic. It helps, too, that she develops such delightful chemistry with Laurence Olivier's exceptionally brooding Mr. Darcy.

Greer Garson and Walter Pigeon.

3. Mrs. Miniver - I suspect if you polled classic movie fans about Greer Garson's best performances, the number one answer would be her portrayal of Kay Miniver. There is no doubt that she shines as the mother that holds a British family together as World War II brings danger, damage, and death into their lives. Her efforts earned her the Best Actress Oscar in 1943 (her only one to go along with six other nominations). She reprised the role of Kay Miniver in The Miniver Story in 1950.

4. Goodbye, Mr. Chips - In her first role on the big screen, Greer Garson received an Oscar nomination opposite Robert Donat in this adaptation of James Hilton's bestseller. She plays the effervescent Kathy, who transforms a shy schoolmaster into a beloved institution at a British boys' school. Amazingly, Garson had difficulty transitioning from the stage to film, finding the process of shooting scenes out of order disorienting. She relied on co-stars Robert Donat and Paul Henreid for support and advice. Her lack of confidence is not apparent on the screen and her performance transformed her into a star overnight.

Greer Garson and Errol Flynn.

5. That Forsyte Woman - This screen adaptation of John Galsworthy's The Man of Property, the first book in his Forsyte Saga, may seem like an odd choice. The film is not remembered fondly nor admired by Galsworthy's readers. Even Greer Garson noted that it "wasn't much," but was a lot of fun for the cast and crew. However, I think she underestimates her performance as Irene Heron, a Victorian woman who marries a "man of property" whom she does not love. When she later falls in love with an architect, her affair sets off a series of dramatic, and tragic, events. The role of Irene is a difficult one since initially the character elicits little audience sympathy. However, the beauty of Garson's performance is that she finds the "truth" in Irene--and brings out the best in Errol Flynn, who is quite effective in a rare serious role as her possessive husband. She was impressed enough with Flynn to write the foreward to a book about his films.

Honorable Mentions:  Mrs. Parkington, Sunrise at Campobello (as Eleanor Roosevelt); and Blossoms in the Dust.