Random Harvest (1942)

Director:

Mervyn LeRoy

Writers:

Claudine West (screenplay) &
George Froeschel (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

31 August 1943 (Argentina)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

It's Great. Great Stars . . . A Great Story . . . A Great Author!

Plot:

An amnesiac World War I vet falls in love with a music hall star, only to suffer an accident which restores his original memories but erases his post-War life.

Plot Keywords:

Memory | Music Hall | Love | Amnesia | Marriage

Awards:

Nominated for 7 Oscars. Another 1 win

Cast

Ronald Colman	...	Charles Rainier
Greer Garson	...	Paula
Philip Dorn	...	Dr. Jonathan Benet
Susan Peters	...	Kitty
Henry Travers	...	Dr. Sims
Reginald Owen	...	'Biffer'
Bramwell Fletcher	...	Harrison
Rhys Williams	...	Sam
Una O'Connor	...	Tobacconist
Aubrey Mather	...	Sheldon
Margaret Wycherly	...	Mrs. Deventer
Arthur Margetson	...	Chetwynd
Melville Cooper	...	George
Alan Napier	...	Julian
Jill Esmond	...	Lydia
Marta Linden	...	Jill
Ann Richards	...	Bridget
Norma Varden	...	Julia
David Cavendish	...	Henry Chilcet
Ivan F. Simpson	...	The Vicar (as Ivan Simpson)
Marie De Becker	...	Vicar's Wife
Charles Waldron	...	Mr. Lloyd
Elisabeth Risdon	...	Mrs. Lloyd
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Harry Adams	...	Businessman (uncredited)
Lowden Adams	...	Clerk (uncredited)
Harry Allen	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Hooper Atchley	...	Businessman (uncredited)
Jimmy Aubrey	...	Man Outside Asylum (uncredited)
Charles Bennett	...	Porter (uncredited)
Frank Benson	...	Workman (uncredited)
Olive Blakeney	...	Miss Barnes (uncredited)
Matthew Boulton	...	Policeman (uncredited)
John Burton	...	Pearson (uncredited)
St. Luke's Episcopal Church Choristers	...	Church Singers (uncredited)
Wallis Clark	...	Jones (uncredited)
David Clyde	...	Lodgekeeper at Random Hall (uncredited)
Robert Cory	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Alec Craig	...	Comedian (uncredited)
Madge Crane	...	Mrs. Sims (uncredited)
Sidney D'Albrook	...	Workman (uncredited)
Henry Daniel	...	Heavy Man (uncredited)
Harold De Becker	...	Milk Deliveryman (uncredited)
Helena Phillips Evans	...	Ella - Charwoman (uncredited)
Herbert Evans	...	Member of House of Commons (uncredited)
Al Ferguson	...	Workman (uncredited)
Edward Fielding	...	Prime Minister (uncredited)
Leatrice Joy Gilbert	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Arthur Gould-Porter	...	Attendant (uncredited)
Bobby Hale	...	Workman (uncredited)
Lumsden Hare	...	Sir John (uncredited)
Sam Harris	...	Member of House of Commons (uncredited)
Winifred Harris	...	Ballet (uncredited)
Hugh Harrison	...	Workman (uncredited)
Forrester Harvey	...	Cabby (uncredited)
Al Hill	...	Member of House of Commons (uncredited)
Ernest Hilliard	...	Member of House of Commons (uncredited)
James Hilton	...	Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Keith Hitchcock	...	Commissionaire (uncredited)
Tommy Hughes	...	Workman (uncredited)
Lilyan Irene	...	Waitress (uncredited)
Boyd Irwin	...	Party Whip (uncredited)
Bill James	...	Workman (uncredited)
Colin Kenny	...	Workman (uncredited)
Terry Kilburn	...	Newsboy on Sidewalk (uncredited)
Henry King	...	Workman (uncredited)
George Kirby	...	Conductor (uncredited)
Peter Lawford	...	Soldier (uncredited)
Gwendolyn Logan	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Stanley Mann	...	Workman (uncredited)
Dan Maxwell	...	Workman (uncredited)
Clement May	...	Beddoes (uncredited)
Cyril McLaglen	...	Liverpool Policeman (uncredited)
Kay Medford	...	Wife (uncredited)
Pat Moriarty	...	Workman (uncredited)
Leonard Mudie	...	Old Man Witnessing Accident (uncredited)
Bill Nind	...	Workman (uncredited)
Rita Page	...	Nurse (uncredited)
Gil Perkins	...	Hospital Attendant (uncredited)
Hilda Plowright	...	Paula's Nurse (uncredited)
John Power	...	Workman (uncredited)
Clifford Severn	...	Albert (uncredited)
Harry Shannon	...	Badgeley - Melbridge Works (uncredited)
C. Montague Shaw	...	Julia's Husband (uncredited)
Reginald Sheffield	...	Judge (uncredited)
Yorke Sherwood	...	Cockney Workman (uncredited)
Arthur Shields	...	Liverpool Chemist (uncredited)
Leslie Sketchley	...	Workman (uncredited)
Arthur Space	...	Traumatized Patient #2 (uncredited)
Robert R. Stephenson	...	Attendant (uncredited)
Donald Stuart	...	2nd Liverpool Cabby (uncredited)
Walter Tetley	...	Call Boy (uncredited)
Cyril Thornton	...	Asylum Guard (uncredited)
John Van Eyck	...	Workman (uncredited)
Pax Walker	...	Sheila (uncredited)
Frank Whitbeck	...	Trailer Narrator (uncredited)
Elizabeth Williams	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Eric Wilton	...	Member of House of Commons (uncredited)
Ian Wolfe	...	Registrar of Births (uncredited)
Frederick Worlock	...	Margaret's Lawyer (uncredited)

Directed by
Mervyn LeRoy

Writing credits
Claudine West		(screenplay) &
George Froeschel		(screenplay) and
Arthur Wimperis		(screenplay)
James Hilton		(based upon the novel by)

Produced by
Sidney Franklin	....	producer

Original Music by
Herbert Stothart

Cinematography by
Joseph Ruttenberg		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Harold F. Kress		(film editor)

Art Direction by
Cedric Gibbons

Set Decoration by
Edwin B. Willis

Costume Design by
Robert Kalloch		(gowns) (as Kalloch)

Makeup Department
Jack Dawn	....	makeup creator
Sydney Guilaroff	....	hair stylist

Production Management
William H. Cannon	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Hugh Boswell	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Al Shenberg	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Randall Duell	....	associate art director
Jack D. Moore	....	associate set decorator (as Jack Moore)

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording director

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Eugene Joseff	....	costume jeweller (uncredited)

Music Department
Daniele Amfitheatrof	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)
Murray Cutter	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Paul Marquardt	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Leonid Raab	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Jonah Ruddy	....	technical advisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (presents) (A Mervyn LeRoy Production)
• Loew's (as Loew's Incorporated)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1942) (USA) (theatrical)
• Loew's (1942) (USA) (theatrical) (as Loew's Incorporated)
• Ceskoslovenská Filmová Spolecnost Pújcovna Filmú (194?) (Czechoslovakia) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1943) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Epoca (????) (Argentina) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (19??) (USA) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (????) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

126 min (Turner library print) (copyright length)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #8545) | Canada:PG (video rating) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Argentina:Atp

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The title is taken from a quotation that appears in hardback versions of the novel (but omitted from most paperback printings.) The quotation is: "According to a British Official Report, bombs fell at Random." - German Official Report. The movie renames the Rainier ancestral home "Random Hall" to better tie in with the title, although in the novel, the estate is named "Stourton".

Goofs:

Continuity: When Margaret and Charles are examining the suitcase in the hotel office, in one shot the case is closed and in the next shot it is opened and Margaret is fingering the shirt sleeve.

Quotes:

Smithy:[beaming while registering his son's birth] Writer, in a small way, of course. Writer and parent. Parent in a big way.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in El crimen del cine Oriente (1997)

Soundtrack:

Oh Perfect Love

One Of The Three Most Emotionally Satisfying Movies Ever Made.

Along with NOW, VOYAGER and CASABLANCA, RANDOM HARVEST is one of the three most emotionally satisfying movies to ever come out of Hollywood's classic period, and a great example of the best that MGM had to offer in the '40s. Beautifully accomplished in every department from writing to art direction to cinematography to scoring, you have only to watch the first scene (so like REBECCA's) to be drawn in by it and then consistently surprised and entertained. And reading the 28 other comments here, I am struck by the unanimity of opinion -- because what makes the contrived plot believable scene by scene, and what causes the picture as a whole to live so warmly in the memory, is the unbeatable work from Ronald Colman and Greer Garson.

More than MRS. MINIVER, this is the archetypal Garson performance: her tact, gentle humor and intelligent restraint are in perfect service to her character and the story. If she seems too starry and aristocratic to be a lowly music hall performer, she is right in every other respect, particularly as an efficient secretary, society hostess and perfect helpmate. And this is Ronald Colman's best work ever. He should have won his Oscar for this lovely, subtle performance rather than for the strained work he did in A DOUBLE LIFE. Full of wistfulness as the amnesiac early in the film, there is real heartbreak in the way he says the line "I would have liked to have belonged to them" about the couple he hopes will turn out to be his parents. But he is just as convincing later as the confident, energetic 'Industrial Prince of England.'

Colman and Garson are the perfect grownup romantic couple: they make intelligence and maturity seem impossibly glamorous, and they embody the idea that friendship, loyalty and mutual respect must be at the center of every enduring love.