lasttimeisaw The first inductee of William Wyler's Oscar BEST PICTURE triumvirate, MRS. MINIVER is an undisguised propaganda weepy that emphatically packs a punch what that particular time needs, in 1942 when our world was enveloped under the pall of WWII, and the United States freshly took a hard blow from the Pearl Harbor attack. A burgher family living in the suburb of London, Clem Miniver (an agreeable Pidgeon as ever) is a successful architect, he and his wife Kay (Garson) has three children, a snug domicile and the film opens with the couple respectively splurging out on luxury items, darting back to the millinery for a with-it headwear or spoiling for a new automobile, and the day is rounded out by a mutual reconciliation that perfectly explains the allure of middle-class content, which significantly pales in comparison with what will soon ensue. The next day, their eldest son Vincent (a spiffy Richard Ney, whose acting days would be put paid to by the disintegration of the marriage with his screen-mother Ms. Garson, 12 years of his senior, in 1947), an undergraduate of Oxford returns home and over a spat with Carol Beldon (Wright, a delighted ingénue in earnest yoked with sublime outpourings of pathos when the crunch hits), the granddaughter of the old money Lady Beldon (Dame May Whitty, loses her Oscar to her co-star Wright notwithstanding, her wits-within-fierceness impression is a force to be reckoned with), he is an idealist and she is more a realist, the two actually are caught by a coup-de-foudre, and before soon Vincent proposes in a home dinner and Carol says yes. With the war looming toward the isle from the embattled Continent, Vincent enlists in the RAF as a fighter pilot and the announcement of wedding has to be parked. Clem pitches in the mission to rescue British soldiers from Dunkirk evacuation with his motorboat, whereas Kay must come face to face under duress with a wounded German pilot (Dantine) right inside their home, and for the first and only time, she loses her temper with a slap across the aggressor's face when the latter blusters with unrepentant zeal of extirpation, Greer Garson won her Oscar fairly and gracefully with this dignified portrayal. The pulsating dread of losing beloved ones who are engaged in the warfare pervades through the story albeit the family collectively musters a can-do attitude in the face of adversity (a magnificent shelter-hiding episode speaks volumes of the horror of bombing relying inclusively on the upsetting close-ups and juddering sound effects), after tactfully convincing Lady Beldon that Vincent and Carol are a blissful union, Kay has a heartfelt tête-à-tête with Carol when the pair returns from their honeymoon in Scotland, Carol expresses her understanding of the stake she is taking by becoming a Mrs. Miniver, but in the climax, Wyler and his script-smiths forcefully overturns the casualties to those unarmed folks caught by strafing and potshots, it is this "everyone is in danger of perdition" gravity that potentially actuates the film's "pro-Britain, anti-Germany" impact in the states, beautifully bookended by the vicar's (Wilcoxon) stirring speech in the half-ruined Anglican church.Under Wyler's well-adjusted administration, MRS. MINIVER - its title, apart from denoting the two women (Kay and Carol), is also the moniker of the rose cultivated by the station master Mr. Ballard (Travers, providentially chalking up a coattail Oscar-nomination), coined after Kay, and is awarded the first prize in the annual village flower show over the perennial winner Lady Beldon, which can be justly symbolized as the undimmed spirit of faith in humanity -, is a considerate homespun melodrama skillfully eschewing the direct war-zone spectacles and exacting an immense emotional weight in its story, potently attests how movie as a media can effectually spur the mass to the exact message of its behind-the-camera masterminds.

petarmatic Even if I was involved in the World War II on the side against the UK I would still love this film. Everything about it is uplifting and certainly helped people of the UK feel better after watching it. Especially because it was released in the 1942 when war was certainly not won yet.Everything about this film is excellent, acting, plot, cinematography. Simply it is just a fantastic piece of propaganda! If you are a student of film making this is a must see for you, but if you are feeling like spending a rainy afternoon with a cup of an English tea in your hand, then you should watch this film. It will make your afternoon worthwhile.

mark.waltz There's nothing like a suburban British housewife to aid her family in getting through the war. In the case of the upper middle class Miniver family, it is the wife (Greer Garson) who keeps the home fires burning, literally, as she fends off Nazi fliers, keeps her children calm in an air raid, and helps the family mend through a tragedy concerning her oldest son (Richard Ney) and the young woman he loves (Teresa Wright). She is also beloved in her village of Belden, given the distinct honor of having a beautiful red rose named after her by the town's long-time railroad station master (Henry Travers), daring to enter it in a contest opposite the town's delightfully imperious matriarch (Dame May Witty), Wright's grandmother. This leads to the famous town flower show sequence, a plot element so remembered by fans that years later it was incorporated into "Downton Abbey" involving Dame Maggie Smith's character.Of course, there's more to this film than a flower show, the guilt over buying a new hat during troubled financial times (while husband Walter Pidgeon buys a new car on the very same day with the same trepidation of telling his wife) and young love. It's about England's transition from innocence to potential annihilation as the evil Nazi Germany bombs the town (at least they waited until the winner of the Belden cup was announced), and how peace loving communities will not allow tyrants to attempt to destroy their freedom. Everybody in this peaceful village gets involved, from store owner turned air raid warden Reginald Owen, parson Henry Wilcoxin and even the Miniver's servants. A screenplay filled with light sentiment, sweet romance, subtle comedy and a divine spirituality of good vs. evil makes this truly a perfect film with everybody excellently cast and the pacing perfectly fitting to each mood that the film undertakes.It's been tempting over the years to make fun of this film which has been spoofed ("Laugh-In", parodying the Nazi soldier with Arte Johnson approaching guest-star Garson) and given legend for Garson's alleged lengthy Oscar speech. It should be noted that 1943's Oscar Winning Best Film "Casablanca" had a New York release during the same year as "Mrs. Miniver", which makes a close call for which of the two would have won the Oscar had "Casablanca" had its Los Angeles release just a few months earlier. On its own, "Mrs. Miniver" still stands the test of time today, and that is also due to its brilliant screenplay and tight direction by the legendary William Wyler.

tomgillespie2002 Directed by German-born American citizen William Wyler, depicting the plight of the British Home Front, Mrs. Miniver swept the boards at the Oscars, collecting five wins including Best Picture. It is now clearly a piece of propaganda film-making, made at the time where the U.S. were edging closer and closer to war, but this doesn't do anything to dampen what is an often gripping, moving and stirring film. Wyler's views are clear as day - American needed to enter the war before the threat of Nazism becomes too powerful to overthrow - and wanted to show the American audience of the stubborn, stiff-upper lipped efforts of its British allies, from the soldiers on the front lines, to the defiance of the women and the elderly at home.As World War II draws inevitably nearer, middle-class housewife Kay Miniver (Greer Garson) journeys home after shopping to learn that station-master Mr. Ballard (Henry Travers) is naming his potentially prize-winning rose "Mrs. Miniver". Her husband Clem (Walter Pidgeon) has just indulged in an expensive new car and the two patter around admitting to their lavish spending. Their son Vin (Richard Ney) returns home from Oxford and falls in love with Carol (Teresa Wright), grand- daughter of aristocrat Lady Beldon (Dame May Witty). But when war is announced, Vin joins the Air Force, and Clem volunteers to assist in the Dunkirk evacuation.What is most surprising about Mrs. Miniver is its depiction of Britain. With an American director and a cast made up mostly of American and Canadian actors, the film is alarmingly successful in its realism, and doesn't look out of place amongst the many British films made during this era with similar settings. The cast border on perfection (apart from the slightly hammy Richard Ney), and Pidgeon, Wright, Witty and Travers all receiving Oscar nominations for the efforts, with Garson winning. They manage to juggle a mixture of middle-class kitchen-sink drama and some naturalistic humour, with some playful scenes managing to alleviate the doom-and-gloom subject matter.The film is keen to explore themes of social divide, and how this apparent barrier seems to vanish and diminish during wartime. Vin arrives home from his college spouting a new-found enlightenment about his fellow man, and how the wealthy live comfortably in ignorance while the lower-classes suffer, but has nothing to say when challenged as to what he's doing about it by Carol. It is only when he goes to war when he is truly with his fellow man, a revelation shared by the snobbish Lady Beldon (in a powerhouse performance by Dame Witty) during the village flower show in an extremely moving scene.A true milestone film, now admitted to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, that President Roosevelt heralded as being as important to the war effort as the soldiers on the ground, as he rushed it straight into theatres shortly after being completed. The film's famous final scene that shows a powerful speech on the country's unity by the Vicar (Henry Wilcoxon - whose brother Robert was killed in the Dunkirk evacuation), was transcribed and translated by Roosevelt and dropped into allied territory as a morale builder, and is now known as the Wilcoxon Speech. Historically important, but a magnificent film in its own right.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com