Aedonerre I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Wyatt There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

aemilg We were TERRIBLY disappointed in this awful remake of one of the best movies ever made. Its sole redeeming feature was the performance of Peter O'Toole as Chips. He deserved the Oscar (as much as Robert Donat did in the 1939 film), but even he could not feel bad about the nod going to John Wayne in True Grit. In fact, O'Toole's performance makes us want to look into more of his work. He was great in this film.First, the G rating is way off. It should have been R for nudity and language. Why they ever thought that swearing and gratuitous nudity of young boys was worthy of inclusion in this wonderful story entirely escapes us. It is strange that the inclusion of nude children was acceptable in films of that time. It certainly would land filmmakers in prison today. This is child porn. Oddly, another film of that era which included the full frontal nudity of a young teenage girl also got a G rating. We won't mention the name of that film for we do not desire to promote child porn. Petula Clarke was a very strange choice of an "actress" to play Katherine. Audrey Hepburn would have been a natural in the role, but NOT in the rewritten part that was butchered in this dismal rewrite. Why they ever rewrote the part of Katherine as a floozy is also immensely puzzling. In the James Hilton book and in the 1939 film which was very true to the book, Katherine was EXACTLY the match for Chips, a perfect pairing. She was classy and elegant. She NEVER embarrassed Mr. Chips. He would NEVER be attracted to such a cockney, low class woman of loose morals as he was shown to do in this terribly rewritten piece of garbage. If you like good, clean movies, by all means, watch the original film from 30 years earlier. The 1969 movie really could have been great had the writers stuck to the book's story. With a script true to the book, a classy actress like Audrey Hepburn as Katherine, the totally unnecessary nudity and the horrible language removed, this film could have been a worthy remake that we could lovingly embrace as we do the 1939 film. We have come to the conclusion that we shall never watch a remake again. They are nearly always worse than the original. We do not wish to give the impression that we don't like Petula Clarke. We do like her. "Downtown" or "Don't Sleep in the Subway Darlin", THAT is vintage Pet Clarke. She is just not a convincing Katherine. Imagine Ethel Merman or Carol Channing as Maria instead of Julie Andrews in the great film, "The Sound of Music". It doesn't work, does it? Pet Clarke does not work as Katherine in "Good Bye Mr. Chips" either. This film is useful only as a study on Peter O' Toole. He was great, this film otherwise rates as a dismal stinker.

marcslope Terrence Rattigan, who authored this screenplay at a time when he was out of fashion (and he still is), did a wonderful job renovating and updating James Hilton's sentimental novel, and his screenplay, and the playing of Peter O'Toole and Petula Clark, save the movie. Rattigan emphasizes the love story and carefully shows how Chipping, seemingly stiff and unemotional, has great reservoirs of tenderness and gallantry. It's a love story of two very different people who not only complement one another but bring out unforeseen qualities in each other: She teaches him to care, and he teaches her to function outside her shallow theatrical surroundings. O'Toole is as touching as Robert Donat in the original, and Clark, with less to play, is lovely and sympathetic and in superb voice. Of course, most of Leslie Bricusse's songs are dreadful, and O'Toole's no singer, and the internal-dialog nature of most of them (they don't advance plot, they don't define character, they just tell you what the protagonists are thinking) slows the action down. But with Rattigan's excellent touches, a splendidly showy supporting performance by Sian Phillips (then Mrs. O'Toole), and some eye-filling Oswald Morris photography, it's a love story you can weep copiously through--I know I did--and have a wonderful time doing so.

wurliguy I love this movie because every single element of it is nothing less than excellent. I will quickly praise a few of them. Peter O'Toole gives us one of his great performances as he becomes the definitive Mr. Chips. Petula Clark, has a beautiful voice and is perfect as Katharine. The director was able to bring the story to the screen in a fresh new way. Combine that with the fantastic and creative cinematography, editing, writing, etc., and you have a film that shows the fine quality of its production. I can't praise the well-planned camera work enough, it moves us up and around, zooming in and out, giving us the best views of, and letting the locations become part of the scene. Petula Clark's last song 'YOU AND I' is just 3 beautifully composed long takes, and in this era of 2 second takes, I can appreciate the extra care that everyone involved had to give to get those long scenes perfect. The music is great, and the songs move the story along just as they should. Leslie Bricusse is one of my favorite composers. Listen to these songs, how could anyone not like them? This is a very romantic story between two people nearing middle age that find each other, bring out the best in each other, and it lasts till the end of their lives. Excellent production values, acting, camera work, and music, make this movie well worth watching.

jonnyplex "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" is a superbly written and photographed musical version of the classic 1939 film. Aside from Peter O'Toole's wonderfully controlled, understated performance as the pedantic schoolmaster who finds love and is changed by it, the film contains hundreds of stunning visuals, from Grecian ruins to London side streets to an extended countryside montage. The music and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse have been criticized as being dull or not-up-to par for film musicals, but they are used to enhance the story rather than tell it. Many songs are used to underscore montages or scenes; the few that don't are relegated to "show biz" numbers. In this manner, the songs do not intrude upon this delicate story but heighten what the characters are thinking or feeling. "Where Did My Childhood Go?", "Walk Through the World With Me", and "You and I" are especially effective. An absorbing, brilliantly acted, directed and written film.