Sunday 2 May 2010

Garden & Mr Chips

The moving 2002 version of Goodbye Mr Chips was almost ruined by the ridiculous amount of ads on ITV3 last night. Martin Clunes was excellent in the title role and I liked the actress who played his wife. Couldn't think why she was so familiar then it dawned on me she was Miss Ruby from the drapers in Candleford (as in Lark Rise To...)
Have just re-read the original Mr Chips novel which is so short it is almost a short story.  In this sympathetic film the producers have added much, including a storyline about bullying which must still seem realistic to those chaps who went to public schools as recently as the 1960s.  Mr Chips himself was born in the mid 1800s and dies as a very old man in the 1930s.  Of course I wept, despite the ads and despite the fact I've seen various film versions before.
Many of the outdoor locations were shot at the school my sons attended, so that made it all the more interesting for us.

Garden blooming at last though fear have lost a few plants in the cold.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh I missed that and would have liked to see that version! Your garden does indeed look pretty as a picture!

Talli Roland said...

Beautiful garden! I'm jealous.

LindyLouMac said...

Another film for me to look out for, thanks for keeping me well supplied with ideas Susie.
Sometimes the length of the ads break on Sky Italia seems longer than the piece of programme it follows!

We have lost a few palnts this spring due to the unusual cold and snow in March we think, including a lemon tree and it was wrapped up.

Susie Vereker said...

Thanks for your comments. Yes, Linda, the ads were so frequent and soo tactless - weedkiller & pizza cutting into sad scenes. But still I might have missed it otherwise - I didn't even know there had been a 2002 version.

Karen said...

I'm ashamed to admit I've never seen the film - must remedy that asap!

Lovely photos of the garden - ours is still a bit of a mudslide after the winter :o)

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

I missed seeing Goodbye Mr Chips, which is such a shame as it sounds so good. The older version with Robert Donat (?) always makes me cry.

Rattling On said...

I think it's a good version as well. We have Sky Plus and record programmes, then either watch them later or with a delay at the start-then we can miss all the ads by fast forwarding.

Lane Mathias said...

I loved that film (apart from the adverts) and thought Martin Clunes was superb.
Apparently the book was written in four days. I know it's short but still ...