Goodbye, Mr. Chips

"He is a shy schoolmaster. She is a music hall star. They marry and immediately have 283 children...all boys!"

Nov 25 1969 G 2h 35m
Drama, Musical, Romance

Academy Award-honoree Peter O'Toole stars in this musical classic about a prim English schoolmaster who learns to show his compassion through the help of an outgoing showgirl. O'Toole, who received his fourth Oscar-nomination for this performance, is joined by '60s pop star Petula Clark and fellow Oscar-nominee Michael Redgrave.

Plot

Arthur Chipping (Peter O'Toole) is an academic teaching at Brookfield Boys' School outside of London in the 1920's. Although he does what he considers best for his students, they don't much like him, nicknaming him "Ditchy", short for "dull as ditch water". His life changes when he meets Katherine Bridges (Petula Clark), a music-hall actress with a questionable past. She affectionately calls him Mr. Chips. Despite their differences they fall in love. He realizes that their relationship will have many obstacles to overcome. He doesn't particularly like the world she's part of, including her friends and profession, and she doesn't exactly fit the mold of a teacher's wife. They decide to get married and she foregoes her career to be Mrs. Chips, living on campus at the wife of a teacher at a proper boys' school. She needs to learn the rules, or at least bend them to her sensibilities, although she vows to never embarrass him. Katherine's arrival at Brookfield might change Chips' standing at the school. Further changes ensue for the Chips and Brookfield with the onset of World War II.

Written by

James Hilton, Terence Rattigan

Directed by

Herbert Ross

Production Countries

United States of America

Production Companies

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, APJAC Productions

Languages

English

Awards

Nominated for 2 Oscars. 6 wins & 5 nominations total

Scores
# of Votes
4,232
Average Rating
6.8 out of 10
Metascore
61
Popularity
NA