5/5 Goodbye, Mr. Chips (2002) DVD
  by Pamela G. Maher (Baltimore, MD)
I'm such a fan of this story, especially as it appears on film in the 3 incarnations I've viewed so far. The 1939 version, starring Robert Donat and the beautiful Greer Garson is poignant and will always hold a dear place in my heart, mainly because it was the first version I watched. The 1969 musical version starring Peter O'Toole and the cheeky Petula Clark is SO 60s, but SO good. They are perfect together, and O'Toole is excellent as Arthur Chipping. And finally this version from 2002 starring Martin Clunes and Victoria Hamilton. I must admit, I never heard of either of these actors, nor anyone else in the cast, so I was initially skeptical that it would measure up to the other two renditions. As it turns out, the 2002 version has topped my list -- it is by far the best. So well done, it touches every emotion and leaves you thinking about the film and characters long after the DVD has ended. Martin and Victoria are brilliant. Not a single misstep will you find. You're truly missing out if you haven't watched this version yet.

4/5 Another Fiction About The Blessed Isle
  by Doug Anderson (Miami Beach, Florida United States)
This is a charming albeit unassuming PBS adaptation of James Hilton's charming albeit unassuming novel Goodbye Mr. Chips. This production has all of the usual Masterpiece Theatre trappings (fine actors in fine locations) but it fails to register much of a response from the viewer. Mr. Chipping is supposedly a man capable of inspiring many generations of students but this Mr. Chipping seems not to be entirely in touch with the world around him. In the classroom he appears to be somewhere between a run-of-the-mill teacher and pretty good one, and one who, on occasion, selects latin passages that resonate with the times (passages that have to do with empire, ethics, and war). But he does not seem to be a great teacher. His classroom is quiet with reverence because his students respect him but we never really see him engage his students minds. One outdoor bull session gets pretty lively but the argument is about a fairly flat topic: dead and living languages. Its not really until he marries that Chipping begins to come to life and under the influence of his much more assertive wife, he learns to be more assertive himself. The fact that men need women to provide them with balance and perspective is probably the most progressive point that this film makes. With Catherine as an ally, Chipping begins to chip away at the schools barbaric disciplinary practices & its exclusivity. But one thing that Mr. Chipping never outgrows is his belief in the social & intellectual hierarchies that govern the intellectual and the social world. Mr. Chipping may be a decent fellow who doesn't believe in corporal punishment and who does believe in offering scholarships to underprivileged students, but he's certainly not one to suggest any radical reforms or systemic changes. Mr. Chipping is the kind of reformer that respects tradition and works within the existing system; and as such he is a mildly effective piecemeal reformer and this makes for a mildly effective PBS Masterpiece Theatre production.

1/5 goodbye Mr. Chips
  by Michael A. Jones
I ordered 2 CD's this one came cracked and did not play

1/5 A dumbed down version
  by Mark Snegg (Boone, NC USA)
Immediately after watching this movie I watched the 1939 version with Robert Donat. I was struck by how much better the earlier version is than the modern version.

The 1939 version assumes that the viewers have some intelligence. This 2003 version is dumbed down by comparison. The earlier version has more depth, and far more historical accuracy. The characters not as flat and one-dimensional as in the modern movie, and the story is more complex. It's also more moving, despite (or perhaps because of) not having the excessive and sickly sentimentality of the modern version. The political correctness and didactic undertones of the modern version are stifling by comparison.

Chips has a strong character and a sense of humor in the old version, while in the latest version he comes across as dull and weak. Robert Donat is a better actor and far more believable in the role than Martin Clunes. Donat deservedly won an Oscar for his performance.

Another important point is that the boys in the 1939 movie are far more real, far more lively, and far more appealing than the over-aged actors of the latest version.

I strongly recommend the 1939 version rather than this version. It's both better and more enjoyable.

4/5 Martin Clunes as James Hilton's beloved Mr. Chipping
  by Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota)
Watching the 2002 BBC version of "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" has convinced me that I have to track down and read James Hilton's sentimental novella to see what is really there. Having a strong affection for the original 1939 film for which Robert Donat won the Best Actor Oscar, especially for the moment when Greer Garson notices that Danube really is blue, and having ignored the songs in the 1969 musical to focus on Peter O'Toole's performance, it was interesting to see what the screenplay by Frank Delaney and Brian Finch that was new and/or different.

Mr. Chipping is played by Martin Clunes, most familiar as Richard Burbage in "Shakespeare in Love," and while he has a certain timidity to him at first he is not as befuddled or as bewildered as his predecessors in the role. Saddled with the burden of teaching Latin in addition to being a new master at Brookfield School, Chipping is immediately tormented by his students. His reputation, not to mention his job, are on the line when he makes an example of a young boy named Colley, taking advantage of the boy's name to reduce the offender to a subject of ridicule in front of his peers. The scene is informative because it establishes the Chipping would prefer not to use corporal punishment.

There is clearly a theme to this version of "Goodbye, Mr. Chips," in that his abhorrence of the systemic bullying of younger boys at Brookfield is as strong as his love for the school, its traditions, and, of course, its boys. Time and time again, Chipping tries to stop the practice, but without success. Then he meet Kathie (Victoria Hamilton), marries her, and brings her back to the school (the moment when his colleagues are stunned to discover that Chipping's new wife is both beautiful and personable is also fun). Confronted with another despicable example, it is Kathie who insists in confronting an increasingly uncomfortable Headmaster Wetherby (John Wood) at a dinner while her husband beams at both her principles and her persistence. She makes her point, first through a nice little story about the wind and the sun and then through a series of concerted efforts to teach the boys better ways of acting like gentlemen. Kathie's presence is regrettable brief in the film, but her impact on her husband is not.

It is after the death of Kathie that Chips, as we now must think of him, has his finest moment when he confronts the new Headmaster, Ralston (Patrick Malahide) over the modernization of Brookfield and the sacrifice of Max Staefel (Conleth Hill) to the building prejudice against Germans on the eve of the First World War. When the boys and their parents rally to Chipping's support, we totally believe it is justifiable because of the way that he stood up to the Headmaster as well as the philosophical points that he raised. This time there is a clear idea that Mr. Chips embodies the very best of the school that he has served for so long and so well.

Overall, I liked the "new" moments in this version of "Goodbye, Mr. Chips," while those that were familiar just struck me as being different without really being better. This could simply be because they are so familiar: I liked what the boys in Chipping's class did when they learned that Kathie was dead, but it did not have the emotional impact that I have felt in the past. Yet other viewers will no doubt appreciate that this version does not veer into such sentimentality and the strength of this production is that it mines the other strong vein of value in Hilton's story. The one point of agreement is that the performance by Clunes is at least the equal of those memorable ones that have come before it, which is a great accomplishment all on its own. This production might not be the definitive "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" for me, but Clunes' performance in the role certainly made it to that level of accomplishment.