Cheers for Miss Bishop (1941)

In some ways, this reminded me of “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” (1939) in that it quite touchingly illustrates the dedication of a schoolteacher to a profession that frequently saw their own lives being sacrificed. It also features a character who isn’t always appreciated by her students or even by some of her professional colleagues as time marches on. “Ella Bishop” (Martha Scott) has always been keen on education and takes great pride in being a woman of letters. She shines at school and is picked by its principal (Edmund Gwenn) to teach the younger kids English - a task that turns out to be quite a bit harder than you might have thought. At this stage in her life, romance is still a distinct possibility but rather cruelly her cousin “Amy” and another man’s wife got in the way - and so the remainder of this feature focuses on her strict but affectionate commitment to her charges whilst her own life follows quite a turbulent path of it’s own. When her sister dies moments after her daughter is born, “Ella” adopts her (Marsha Hunt) hoping that she will grow into a woman with ideals and principles of her own whilst giving her a renewed sense of purpose. Her one stalwart throughout her life is her loyal friend “Sam” (William Gargan) but can anything ever come of that? You also have to feel sorry for the poor old gardener (Sterling Holloway), too. It is poignant at times, but as it progresses it can’t stay out of the realms of sentiment and gradually becomes a rather predictable tale that is both sad and valedictory in equal measure, but just a bit hastily arrived at and gloopy. That said, Scott delivers an emotionally charged performance here and it does remind you that there was time, quite recently, when education was a bit of a luxury.