MRS. MINIVER

The Oscar for Best Picture award for 1943 went to Mrs. Miniver. In all, the film would earn six Oscars out of 12 nominations. Centered on an upper-middle-class family in pre-war England, the Minivers are a family about to experience what being drawn into World War II will require of them and take from them.

The movie chugs a bit before gaining its steam, but once fully engaged it is a delightful journey. Greer Garson is the Miniver matriarch and holds the family firm as her husband Clem (Walter Pidgeon) heads off to the beaches of Dunkirk and her son Vin (Richard Ney) enters the Royal Air Force. While they are gone, she deals with a wounded Nazi soldier and also the discontent of Lady Beldon. Lady Beldon (Dame May Whitty) is a local aristocrat who is unhappy with the changes happening within the class system as a result of World War I, and who is even more upset that her granddaughter Carol (Teresa Wright) has fallen in love with Vin Miniver.

Walter Pidgeon and Richard Ney both give solid performances (Pidgeon being nominated for Best Actor), but the movie is very much feminine-centric. Greer Garson is clearly the brain and strength of the story with Teresa Wright providing the heart. May Whitty’s role is much smaller, but watching her stodgy resolve being tested by both her granddaughter and Mrs. Miniver provides some of the film’s finest moments. All three women were nominated for acting nods, with Garson and Wright taking home Oscar statues.

With any wartime flick, one can anticipate the loss of at least one main character. This film pacifies that anticipation, but in a very unexpected way. The film is regarded by many as a propaganda film of sorts. This was one of the first movies to show the impact of the impending war on an individual family. Its intent was to shake the complacency that many in America had about entering into World War II, and it worked. Several Marquis posters touted that the film had been “voted the greatest movie ever made”. I’m not sure I would go that far, but it is a really strong one, and worthy of being given the respect and label of “a classic”.