Greer Garson, Goodbye, Mr. Chips

as KATHERINE ELLIS / MRS. CHIPS

Before Greer Garson went on to dominate much of the 1940’s with 5 consecutive Oscar nominations, she popped up on the shortlist for Best Actress in 1939. Perhaps she got the nomination because voters were blinded by their love for Goodbye, Mr. Chips and didn't know any better. Perhaps she got the nomination due to studio politics and MGM wanting to prep her for star status. Perhaps it was a combination of the two factors. But the fact of the matter is, to say that her role in the film is leading anything is a load of flaming hot rubbish with a sprinkling of lies and deception on top. Her nomination is definitely one of the most flagrant examples of category fraud I’ve seen from the 1930’s, and it’s essentially the female equivalent to Spencer Tracy’s San Francisco nomination. But unlike Tracy, Garson is better. And despite the size of her role, there’s much to like here. 

In the film, Mr. Chips describes Katherine as “so very nice looking…charming.” Now I had read here and there about Garson’s alleged “charm” in her films and hadn’t thought much of it going into the film, but hot damn! Charming doesn’t quite encapsulate the full meaning of how I felt about Garson in this role. She positively oozes with some sort of juju that puts you at ease and makes you like her whether you want to or not. Her voice is soft, fresh, honeyed…and every line she says kind of just wins you over inexplicably. It’s a terribly simple part, that of the devoted wife, and she exists in the film only to make the film’s one true lead a better person (see her line: “as long as you believe in yourself you can go as far as you dream”). The film doesn’t want to do much with her besides reiterating her role as the female who inspires and uplifts her man—this is clearly evident when the suffragette Katherine describes herself as a “strong minded female who rides a bicycle and wants to vote” and yet all she does for the rest of her performance is fawn over and coo at Chips. And yet, despite showing up for the occasional motivational check in a handful of scenes over the course of 40 minutes or so before abruptly disappearing forever, she makes a lasting impression purely by virtue of her infectious charm. It’s a perfect case of an actor really elevating unchallenging material. Watching her here makes her subsequent 6 nominations in 7 years seem unsurprising—after all, if she could get into Best Actress for a small performance with a basic stock character, then she could get in for anything. But to expand on this, Garson shows that she’s more than capable of holding her own with plain material and that she possesses a lovable appeal which clearly had Academy members coming back for more. I resentfully give this a