If this were made in USA, it would be classified as "Oscar Bait."
It's about a beloved teacher a boy's school. We never exactly find out why he's beloved. The first day the students bully him but eventually he seems to gain control of the disciplinary situation. It's briefly mentioned that he believes in disciplinary techniques other than punishment.
And that's precisely the major problem with this movie. It's packed with plots. It is, in fact, a biographical movie covering most of the adult life of the so-called "Mr. Chips." And under this timeline, every scene is so brief and fleeting. Nothing is allowed to take root. Under those conditions it's really hard to warm up to any character.
Things are presented that are really quite tawdry attempts to rack up Oscar-worthiness points. It's about as subtle as the Very Special Sitcom episodes. There's bullying in the boys' school. The administration is rigid. There's discrimination (against Germans, though). Some war happens in the background. I'm not sure which war. Judging from the costumes it should be World War I but at some point some boys mock a German teacher with a salute from the World War II Germans (or so I thought - actually apparently it's a Prussian thing, but still).
It's one of those movies I thought the world would have grown out of by now, where you're supposed to fill in the blanks about how to feel about characters instead of the movie itself letting the characters' personalities unfold ("his students in the film seem to like him so I guess I should like him too even though I haven't actually seen him do much likeable").
It's entertaining, though, as a soap opera is.
Honourable Mentions: Ikiru (1952). The same actor plays the character in his twilight years. But it's quite a histrionic performance with him wheezing and barely walking. He channeled a bit of the decrepit "mummy" played by Kanji Watanabe in Ikiru. I do not approve.
It's about a beloved teacher a boy's school. We never exactly find out why he's beloved. The first day the students bully him but eventually he seems to gain control of the disciplinary situation. It's briefly mentioned that he believes in disciplinary techniques other than punishment.
And that's precisely the major problem with this movie. It's packed with plots. It is, in fact, a biographical movie covering most of the adult life of the so-called "Mr. Chips." And under this timeline, every scene is so brief and fleeting. Nothing is allowed to take root. Under those conditions it's really hard to warm up to any character.
Things are presented that are really quite tawdry attempts to rack up Oscar-worthiness points. It's about as subtle as the Very Special Sitcom episodes. There's bullying in the boys' school. The administration is rigid. There's discrimination (against Germans, though). Some war happens in the background. I'm not sure which war. Judging from the costumes it should be World War I but at some point some boys mock a German teacher with a salute from the World War II Germans (or so I thought - actually apparently it's a Prussian thing, but still).
It's one of those movies I thought the world would have grown out of by now, where you're supposed to fill in the blanks about how to feel about characters instead of the movie itself letting the characters' personalities unfold ("his students in the film seem to like him so I guess I should like him too even though I haven't actually seen him do much likeable").
It's entertaining, though, as a soap opera is.
Honourable Mentions: Ikiru (1952). The same actor plays the character in his twilight years. But it's quite a histrionic performance with him wheezing and barely walking. He channeled a bit of the decrepit "mummy" played by Kanji Watanabe in Ikiru. I do not approve.