Mrs. Miniver (1942)

Director:

William Wyler

Writers:

Arthur Wimperis (screenplay) &
George Froeschel (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

1 December 1942 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War

Tagline:

VOTED THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER MADE!

Plot:

The Minivers, an English "middle-class" family experience life in the first months of World War II. While dodging bombs...

Plot Keywords:

Rose | Middle Class | WWII | Hostage | Beautiful Woman

Awards:

Won 6 Oscars. Another 6 nominations

Cast

Greer Garson	...	Mrs. Miniver
Walter Pidgeon	...	Clem Miniver
Teresa Wright	...	Carol Beldon
Dame May Whitty	...	Lady Beldon
Reginald Owen	...	Foley
Henry Travers	...	Mr. Ballard
Richard Ney	...	Vin Miniver
Henry Wilcoxon	...	Vicar
Christopher Severn	...	Toby Miniver
Brenda Forbes	...	Gladys - Housemaid
Clare Sandars	...	Judy Miniver
Marie De Becker	...	Ada
Helmut Dantine	...	German Flyer
John Abbott	...	Fred
Connie Leon	...	Simpson

Runtime:

134 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G (original rating) | Australia:PG (TV rating) | UK:U | Spain:T | USA:Approved (PCA #8034) | Canada:G (video rating) | Argentina:13 | Finland:(Banned) (1943-1944) | Finland:K-16 (1944) | Finland:S (1964) | Sweden:15

Company:

Loew's

Trivia:

The vicar's speech near the end was reportedly re-written by William Wyler and Henry Wilcoxon the night before it was shot. It was translated into various languages and air-dropped in leaflets over German-occupied territory, was broadcast over the Voice of America, and reprinted in Time and Look magazines at Pres. Franklin Delano Roosevelt's request. This speech has come to be known as The Wilcoxon Speech, in tribute to actor Henry Wilcoxon's stirring delivery of it.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: Early in the movie, right after Mrs. Miniver gets off the bus and is rushing up the sidewalk, the camera's shadow falls across her face.

Quotes:

Carol Beldon: I know how comfortable it is to curl up with a nice, fat book full of big words and think you're going to solve all the problems in the universe. But you're not, you know. A bit of action is required every now and then.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Midsummer's Day

A powerful image of war on the home front

This film is great movie because it pulls at the heartstrings and brings forth real emotion in the viewer. As somebody who has recently moved away from a war-zone, the sense of loss of the innocent at the hands of a heartless and remorseless enemy actually moved me to tears.

I can see why the movie won so many Oscars - the performances are far above the standards of many of today's "greats", and the longer shots (unlike today's "grunge" editing or excessive camera movements) give the cast a chance to act out scenes in depth instead of doing one line at a time as is the current vogue. In one scene between the young Belden and Miniver, all the dialogue is conveyed by subtle body language. We don't see that from most modern films - cheap dialogue substitutes for communication. Less really is more.

I have one niggle - every single visual detail is wrong - it was filmed in America, where everything looks different. The train was not a Southern Region train, the garden fence wasn't British, and the interiors were like nothing you'd seen in English villages. And some of the accents were uncomfortably like products from "Dick Van Dyke's School of Bad Cockney" - a dialect only spoken in the East End of London!!!

Other than that, this film was a great, and I await the DVD eagerly.