Cheers for Miss Bishop (1941)

Director:

Tay Garnett

Writers:

Bess Streeter Aldrich (novel)
Stephen Vincent Benet (screen adaptation)

Release Date:

21 February 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Ella Bishop is an inhibited girl whose frustrations grow as she approaches womanhood. As a women, her...

Plot Keywords:

Student | Teacher | College | Retirement | Teaching

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Martha Scott	...	Ella Bishop
William Gargan	...	Sam Peters
Edmund Gwenn	...	President Corcoran
Sterling Holloway	...	Chris Jensen
Dorothy Peterson	...	Mrs. Bishop
Sidney Blackmer	...	John Stevens
Mary Anderson	...	Amy Saunders
Donald Douglas	...	Delbert Thompson
Marsha Hunt	...	Hope Thompson
John Archer	...	Richard Clark (as Ralph Bowman)
Lois Ranson	...	Gretchen Clark
Rosemary DeCamp	...	Minna Fields
Knox Manning	...	Anton Radcheck
John Arledge	...	'Snapper' MacRae
Jack Mulhall	...	Professor Carter

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #6839) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Lincoln, Nebraska, USA

Company:

Richard A. Rowland Productions

Trivia:

Debut of Rosemary DeCamp.

Quotes:

James Corcoran, Midwestern U. President: [addresses registering students] I know some of you have walked miles to get here, and that everyday for four years you'll have to walk those miles; through rain, sleet and snow. But I know this: the end will pay you for those hardships; because the end is wisdom. Wisdom is first cousin to freedom...

This all seems a bit recycled

I am a teacher, so it might seem a bit surprising that I felt rather indifferent to this film about an English professor. While Martha Scott is competent in the lead role, the film offers nothing particularly new or compelling--especially since the film seems an awful lot like a mediocre re-working of GOODBYE MR. CHIPS. However, unlike CHIPS, this film offers no particularly interesting insights into Miss Bishop and other than teaching for a very long time, I can't think of how this character merits a film. Sure, she sacrifices her love life for teaching, there really is no reason for this to have happened--other than it was a plot device and fit the formula of the film. Please understand, I am not saying the film is bad or not worth seeing--its just that CHIPS and THE CORN IS GREEN and many other films cover the same type material in a much better and more interesting way.