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Mrs. Miniver

Mrs. Miniver promotional poster
Directed by William Wyler
Produced by Sidney Franklin
Written by Jan Struther (book)
George Froeschel
James Hilton
Claudine West
Arthur Wimperis
Starring Greer Garson
Walter Pidgeon
Teresa Wright
Dame May Whitty
Reginald Owen
Henry Travers
Richard Ney
Henry Wilcoxon
Music by Herbert Stothart
Cinematography Joseph Ruttenberg
Editing by Harold F. Kress
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s) June 4, 1942 (USA premiere)
Running time 134 mins
Country USA
Language English
Followed by The Miniver Story
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Mrs. Miniver is a 1942 drama film directed by William Wyler and starring Greer Garson in the title role. It was produced as a propaganda film aimed at ending American isolation from World War II, and was based on the fictional English housewife created by Jan Struther in 1937 for a series of newspaper columns, Mrs. Miniver.[1]

The film won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Director.

Contents

Background

The film adaptation of Mrs. Miniver was produced by MGM in 1942 with Greer Garson in the leading role and William Wyler directing. Under the influence of the American Office of War Information, the film attempted to undermine Hollywood's prewar depiction of England as a glamorous bastion of social privilege, anachronistic habits and snobbery in favour of more democratic, modern images. To this end, the social status enjoyed by the Miniver family in the print version was downgraded and increased attention was given to the erosion of class barriers under the pressures of wartime.

The film exceeded all expectations, grossing $5,358,000 in North America (the highest for any MGM film at the time) and $3,520,000 abroad. In Britain, it was named the top box office attraction of 1942. 555 of the 592 film critics polled by American magazine Film Daily named it the best film of 1942. On June 14, 2006 it was named #40 on the American Film Institute's list celebrating the most inspirational films of all time.

Plot

Although not as 'socially privileged' as in the book, the Mrs. Kay Miniver (Greer Garson) of the film version is still presented as living a comfortable life at a house called 'Starlings' in a village outside London. The house has a large garden, with a private landing stage on the river Thames, and a motorboat. Her husband Clem (Walter Pidgeon) (despite his American accent) is a successful English architect; they have several live-in staff and a son at University.

As World War II looms, the eldest son Vin (Richard Ney) comes down from university and meets Carol Beldon (Teresa Wright), granddaughter of aristocratic Lady Beldon (Dame May Whitty) from nearby Beldon Hall. Despite initial disagreements, for example the contast of Vin's idealistic attitude to class differences and Carol's practical altruism, they fall in love: an embarrassed Vin proposes to Carol at dinner time after young brother Toby has embarrassingly blurted out that he should do so if they are in love. They eventually marry. As the war comes closer to home, Vin feels he must do his bit and joins the Royal Air Force as a pilot. When qualified, he is posted to a station close to his parents home. Clem takes his motorboat to assist in the Dunkirk evacuation.[2] Left alone at home, Kay finds a wounded German pilot (Helmut Dantine) in her garden. She feeds him, then calmly disarms him and calls the police.

After the flower show, in which the stationmaster's 'Mrs. Miniver' rose is judged the winner over Lady Beldon's rose, Kay, with Carol, drives Vin to join his squadron just as an air attack begins. On their return home Kay stops the car and Carol is wounded in an attack from a German plane, but she dies when they reach home. The local inhabitants assemble at the badly damaged church and, with their vicar (Henry Wilcoxon), affirm their determination to fight on and defend their way of life.

Wilcoxon and director William Wyler "wrote and re-wrote" this key sermon "the night before the sequence was to be shot."[3] The speech "made such an impact that it was used in essence by President Roosevelt as a morale builder and part of it was the basis for leaflets printed in various languages and dropped over enemy and occupied territory."[3]

Awards and nominations

The film won six Oscars:

It was nominated for another six Oscars:

Romantic interest

Soon after filming, Richard Ney, who played Greer Garson's son and 11 years her junior, married Garson.

References

  1. ^ "Mrs. Miniver (1942) at Reel Classics". Retrieved on 2008-04-28.
  2. ^ There is a parallel story here: Sub-Lieut. Robert Owen Wilcoxon of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, only brother of Henry Wilcoxon, assisted in the Dunkirk evacuation on May 29th 1940; but, having helped to get hundreds of Allied troops off the beach to safety in his assault landing craft, he was fatally injured when, after returning to the sloop HMS Bideford to arrange a tow back to Dover, the ship had its stern blown off by a bomb dropped from a dive-bombing German aircraft. This must have been on Wilcoxon's mind during the making of the film. This event is reported in the book The Evacuation from Dunkirk, 'Operation Dynamo', 26 May-4 June 1940 ed. W. J. R. Gardner, pub. Frank Cass, London, 2000 ISBN 0714651206
  3. ^ a b Daynard, Don Henry Wilcoxon in Peter Harris (ed.) The New Captain George's Whizzbang #13 (1971), p. 5


External links

Awards
Preceded by
How Green Was My Valley		 Academy Award for Best Picture
1942		 Succeeded by
Casablanca
v • d • e
Films directed by William Wyler
1920s
The Crook Buster (1925) • The Gunless Bad Man (1926) • Ridin' for Love (1926) • The Fire Barrier (1926) • Don't Shoot (1926) • The Pinnacle Rider (1926) • Martin of the Mounted (1926) • Lazy Lightning (1926) • The Stolen Ranch (1926) • The Two Fister (1927) • Kelcy Gets His Man (1927) • Tenderfoot Courage (1927) • The Silent Partner (1927) • Blazing Days (1927) • Shooting Straight (1927) • Galloping Justice (1927) • The Haunted Homestead (1927) • Hard Fists (1927) • The Lone Star (1927) • The Home Trail (1927) • Gun Justice (1927) • The Phantom Outlaw (1927) • The Square Shooter (1927) • The Horse Trader (1927) • Daze of the West (1927) • The Border Cavalier (1927) • Desert Dust (1927) • Thunder Riders (1928) • Anybody Here Seen Kelly? (1928) • The Shakedown (1929) • The Love Trap (1929)
1930s
Hell's Heroes (1930) • The Storm (1930) • A House Divided (1931) • Tom Brown of Culver (1932) • Her First Mate (1933) • Counsellor at Law (1933) • Glamour (1934) • The Good Fairy (1935) • The Gay Deception (1935) • Barbary Coast (1935) • These Three (1936) • Dodsworth (1936) • Come and Get It (1936) • Dead End (1937) • Jezebel (1938) • Wuthering Heights (1939)
1940s
The Westerner (1940) • The Letter (1940) • The Little Foxes (1941) • Mrs. Miniver (1942) • Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress (1944) • The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) • Thunderbolt (1947) • The Heiress (1949)
1950s
Detective Story (1951) • Carrie (1952) • Roman Holiday (1953) • The Desperate Hours (1955) • Friendly Persuasion (1956) • The Big Country (1958) • Ben-Hur (1959)
1960s
The Children's Hour (1961) • The Collector (1965) • How to Steal a Million (1966) • Funny Girl (1968)
1970s
v • d • e
Academy Award for Best Picture

How Green Was My Valley (1941) · Mrs. Miniver (1942) · Casablanca (1943) · Going My Way (1944) · The Lost Weekend (1945) · The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) · Gentleman's Agreement (1947) · Hamlet (1948) · All the King's Men (1949) · All About Eve (1950) · An American in Paris (1951) · The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) · From Here to Eternity (1953) · On the Waterfront (1954) · Marty (1955) · Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) · The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) · Gigi (1958) · Ben-Hur (1959) · The Apartment (1960)

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