A shy, withdrawn English schoolteacher falls for a flashy showgirl.
Director: Herbert Ross
Stars: Peter O'Toole, Petula Clark, Michael Redgrave.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064382/
12 songs in the Soundtracks, all Music and Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse.
Watched out of sequence because it wasn't online in English for free, it's PC's only other US film, and the disc arrived a couple of days ago.
We get at least 1 production number onstage, since PC is a performer at the beginning of the film (and at her end, during the WW2). No credit for choreographer on IMDb, but dir. Ross has done such elsewhere.
This is charming, and PC's voice is always welcome. At one point she sings with the rest of the school, and when they hear her voice for the first time, everyone falls silent to hear her.
PO sings as well, and since they're mostly internal monologues, his quiet voice is apt.
This does get sloppy sentimental, but not for a long duration.
MGM & more, dir. Ross; 7
Then decided to watch the '39 antecedent.
An aged teacher and former headmaster of a boarding school recalls his career and his personal life over the decades.
Directors: Sam Wood, Sidney Franklin (uncredited)
Stars: Robert Donat, Greer Garson, Paul Henreid.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031385/
Watched online, good print.
We get much less time with the wife in this film (she dies in childbirth with the child), although we got a fair amount of their courtship, and a lot more time when Chips is retired, and then called back to school to serve as headmaster during WW1. He's more involved with the students after they leave school, and on into adulthood.
Britain doesn't declare war on Germany until 3Sep, but this is clearly propaganda to remind the Brits of the tragedy but necessity of war. One of the older boys criticizes the staff for not going off to fight, until Chips explains they all had tried to enlist, and that he was only headmaster because all other candidates were officers now. As the war ends, some of the alumni are killed in battle, and their names and battle stories are read at school assembly. Chips also mentions a former German instructor from the school, who was also felled, on the German side.
These are very different films. I wonder which is closer to the James Hilton novel. But I'll probably never read it; I've spent enough time on this as it is.
MGM Britain, dir. Wood; 6
