LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Robert Donat: James Hilton
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Marlene Dietrich and Robert Donat star in this gripping melodrama about the Russian revolution, based on the novel by James Hilton. Donat plays A.J. Fothergill, a British interpreter in St. Petersburg who is ordered to leave Russia after writing an article that criticized the czar. Fothergill meets a British secret agent who can arrange for him to stay in Russia if he will agree to spy for England and monitor revolutionary groups trying to depose the czar. Fothergill infiltrates a group planning to kill Russian nobleman Vladinoff (Herbert Lomas); the radicals bomb Vladinoff's coach, but he and his daughter, Alexandra (Marlene Dietrich) escape unharmed. Fothergill is arrested and sent to Siberia.
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[M]oving was Donat's performance that he beat out the most popular American candidate for the Best Actor Oscar, Clark Gable, who was nominated for his work in GONE WITH THE WIND. Greer Garson, as Mrs. Chips... shines in the film that introduced her to American audiences. The screenplay is bright and the direction gentle, but it is Donat who elevates this bittersweet, affectionate tribute. (The great James Hilton wrote the original story as a novella in four days to meet a 1934 magazine deadline.) Skip the 1969 musical remake starring Peter O'Toole; despite his rightness in the role, he can't salvage a lumbering horror show."
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The John Donat Architecture, Art & Life archive shows select examples from the celebrated architectural photographer spanning a career of 50 years. The archive features Richard Rogers, Norman Foster, ABK, Scott Tallon Walker, Denys Lasdun, Wendy Taylor, James Stirling, Arup Associates, and Mies van der Rohe. Buildings include the Sainsbury Centre, Holloway Prison, Milton Keynes, Historic Houses, Snape Maltings, British Library, Bazaar of Isphahan, Aght'amar The Real Crete with presentations including the author's father Robert Donat.
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Goodbye, Mr. Chips, based on James Hilton's novel, is a melodrama about a shy British teacher named Mr. Chipping (Robert Donat) who devotes his life to teaching "his boys" after the death of his lovely, energetic American wife Katherine (Greer Garson). Told via flashbacks, the film features an aged Mr. Chipping looking back nostalgically at his long career, taking note of the people who've touched his life over the years. Donat was the recipient of a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of the title character, and the film features the debut performance of a young Garson. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
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Brimming with humanity, this beautifully filmed look at a schoolmaster's life won an Oscar for Robert Donat in a fiercely competitive year that included Clark Gable's Rhett Butler. The story was based upon James Hilton's own experiences with W.H. Balgarnie, a schoolmaster at a private school in Cambridge. For authenticity's sake, the MGM British studio production was filmed at Repton School and included many actual academics and students as extras in the cast.
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James Hilton