Goodbye Mr. Chips

[stuart.uk]

Spoiler Alert

I don't really like comparing the musical 'Mr. Chips' to the acclaimed Robert Donat, as they are two very different movies. However, I class both movies as classics.

The musical starts of in the 1920s and ends up in the late 60s, whereas the original started in 1870 and finished in 1933.

Petula Clark's Catherine is a more modern woman than Greer Garson, but that's to be expected given the time difference (that said Victoria Hamilton in a traditional tv version of the story played a modern woman in the Victorian era). In the original Chip's and Catherine were only married briefly, before she died in childbirth, whereas Petula's character was married to him for 14-yrs, before she was killed by a German rocket that hit the theatre she was performing.

Garson was accepted by Brookfield school right of the bat, but being a show girl by profession Pet had to work hard to gain approval.

One great scene was when one of the boys burst into the Schoolteachers private quarters declaring undying love to Catherine, not knowing Chips was behind the front door.

I also liked Pet's redition of the music hall song 'London'

[Synnove]

I didn't know this had been turned into a musical. It's interesting to see how changing the time period when it's set changes certain aspects of the story. Thanks for the review, stuart.uk.