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Reviews
Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
Do not less this inspire you to become a teacher in the UK!
The central moral of the film is declared very early on: that, through the love of a good woman, Chips learns that the path to teaching success and fulfilment is to become the pupils' friend.
Current teacher training policy, at least in England and Wales, is that the teacher should NEVER try to be the pupils' friend. You would almost certainly fail to qualify as a PGCE teacher if you did.
That said, this is a touching movie, even if there are several mawkish moments. The school song has been deliberately composed to tug at the heart strings; the scene in which Chips insists on conducting a Latin class despite having just heard his wife and unborn baby have died is simply appalling. The dialogue designed to tell the story or illustrate the passage of the years is ridiculously unsubtle.
But Greer Garson is gorgeous in this, and Donat is touching. If only school was still like this!
The Woman in White (1982)
Outstanding dramatisation
Why, oh why, has the BBC not released this version on DVD? Judging by reviews I have seen of other versions of the Wilkie Collins classic, they are pretty poor.
This version provided unmissable viewing on Wednesday evenings back in 1982, with Alan Badel as the ominous Fosco, plus the delectable Jenny Seagrove, and a frightening woman with a hairy upper lip.
This version was also memorable for the innovative camera work and visual effects -- all non-computerised.
I hope this version has not been subject to the same BBC videotape re-use programme that has lost other classics for good, such as Michael Wood's IN SEARCH OF THE DARK AGES.