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sergebroomI have a question for my blog’s visitors.
I have read James Hilton. Well, not Hilton himself, because we were never that intimate, nor did I ever read his entrails to peer into the Future. On the other hand, I read one of his books, Lost Horizon, but not Goodbye, Mr. Chips. If you have read the latter, would you mind telling me which movie adaptation is the closest to the original? I mean, is Robert Donat’s perpetually befuddled Chips the way Hilton depicted him, or was it Peter O’Toole’s prim teacher?
That being said, I much prefer O’Toole’s interpretation. In fact, I prefer the 1969 movie. I agree that, as a musical, it’s not very good. In fact, at some point it forgets that it’s a musical. Thankfully, O’Toole does little of the singing. And Petula Clark, much as I love her voice, doesn’t sing anything that’s very memorable. And yet, I prefer that movie, taken on its own terms. Maybe it’s because, while the 1939 version focused much more on Chips as a teacher, 1969’s main interest was the love between Chips and his wife. Yes, my significant other has been known to call me a sentimental fool, and she presumably means it in a good way. That’s probably why my favorite scene are when they meet in Pompei, and she asks a silent question to Apollo, looking up at the temple and, when she looks down again, she just stares at Chips.
I have read James Hilton. Well, not Hilton himself, because we were never that intimate, nor did I ever read his entrails to peer into the Future. On the other hand, I read one of his books, Lost Horizon, but not Goodbye, Mr. Chips. If you have read the latter, would you mind telling me which movie adaptation is the closest to the original? I mean, is Robert Donat’s perpetually befuddled Chips the way Hilton depicted him, or was it Peter O’Toole’s prim teacher?
That being said, I much prefer O’Toole’s interpretation. In fact, I prefer the 1969 movie. I agree that, as a musical, it’s not very good. In fact, at some point it forgets that it’s a musical. Thankfully, O’Toole does little of the singing. And Petula Clark, much as I love her voice, doesn’t sing anything that’s very memorable. And yet, I prefer that movie, taken on its own terms. Maybe it’s because, while the 1939 version focused much more on Chips as a teacher, 1969’s main interest was the love between Chips and his wife. Yes, my significant other has been known to call me a sentimental fool, and she presumably means it in a good way. That’s probably why my favorite scene are when they meet in Pompei, and she asks a silent question to Apollo, looking up at the temple and, when she looks down again, she just stares at Chips.
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Date: Mar. 31st, 2009 01:02 am (UTC)(Which worried me, at the beginning, when the opening credits announced that it was "Based on the literary property by James Hilton". I came up with several paranoid hypotheses about why they didn't just say "the book", until I realised that it's probably just because the story was originally published in a magazine.)
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Date: Mar. 31st, 2009 01:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Mar. 31st, 2009 12:23 pm (UTC)...to which Hilton was a content provider?
Say, is it my imagination or has the expression 'content provider' (even more tacky than 'literary property') passed out of fashion since its being spawned in the 1990s?
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Date: Mar. 31st, 2009 12:27 pm (UTC)Even though O'Toole played Chips as a prim person, he was still gentle. There's a scene early on where a new school year begins and he finds a new kid sitting alone on a park bench, looking quite forlorn, and he tells the kid some kind words before sending him on.
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Date: Mar. 31st, 2009 02:39 pm (UTC)