34-year-old Robert Donat ages 63 years (1870-1933) over the course of this movie. He remarked: "As soon as I put the mustache on, I felt the part, even if I did look like a great Airedale come out of a puddle."
Greer Garson's performance runs a little under 25 minutes, yet she received an Oscar nomination in the Best Actress category, one of the shortest performances to have been so nominated.
Adapted from the 1934 novella Goodbye, Mr Chips, James Hilton based the character of Mr. Chips on W.H. Balgarnie, his old classics master, who taught for over fifty years at The Leys public school in Cambridge.
The film takes place from 1870 to 1933.