Mrs. Miniver
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Movie Reviews of Mrs. Miniver
Movie Review: Shameless Melodramatic War Propaganda
Summary: 5 Stars
MRS MINIVER is a classic example of a World War II Hollywood propaganda melodrama--but, oh my, what a fantastically entertaining, black & white movie treasure it is! All the artistic elements combine to completely overcome what qualms the viewer may have about propaganda films. Greer Garson positively glows as the prototype beautiful & kind wife & mother. She makes it easy to believe that a shy British stationmaster & rose enthusiast would name his prize hybrid bloom after her (as happens in the movie.)
Garson is indeed a lovely revelation--but there is another revelation in MRS MINIVER, and it's actress Teresa Wright who plays the ill-fated daughter-in-law. In every film I've seen her in (THE LITTLE FOXES, BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, SHADOW OF A DOUBT) Wright radiates a simple charm & integrity, a person you can trust & believe in. Her natural form of acting is magnificent. She can convey in one glance what would require other actresses to use paragraphs of words. The really nice thing too, is that Teresa Wright conveyed that same honesty & gentle kindliness off-stage as well.
I'll just mention one scene in MRS MINIVER that conveys the general tone of the movie. It takes place when the English Minivers, including two small children, are huddled in a homemade underground bomb shelter during the German Blitz. As explosions are heard all around, getting closer & the walls are shaking, Greer Garson's facial reactions are a marvel. There is fear. of course, but also anger that her children are placed in such jeopardy by the forces of war--and there is always that understated strength of her character. When the bombing finally ends, her little boy says, "They almost killed us that time, didn't they?"
A wonderful, wonderful film.
The Little Foxes
The Best Years of Our Lives
Shadow of a Doubt (Enhanced) 1943
Movie Review: A Film that helped win the war....
Summary: 5 Stars
This shows the power of film....a movie that both Winston Churchill credited with helping the war effort and that even Adolph Hitler praised...!
It's a perfectly done work of cinema. There are extremely moving moments throughout, starting at the beginning with the lovely Mrs. Miniver accepting the compliment of having a rose, grown by the village station master, named after her. We see her kindness. As the film progresses we see the other facets of her personality---her charm, her humor, her love of frivolity (the hat!), her obvious love for her husband, her grown son and her two young ones. She is the soul of tact in dealing with the class consciousness that is present in the form of the elderly Lady Balfour who objects to the marriage of her grand daughter to the Minifer boy. As the war progresses and her challenges become more severe, Mrs. Minifer rises to each occasion. If this sounds hokey, believe me, William Wyler presents this in a way that is very real.
I've always heard of the English stiff upper lip and their staunch courage during WWII but this shows it in an amazing way...Mrs. Miniver knitting and chatting with Clem, her husband, about Alice in Wonderland as they are being bombed. That was just one more incredible scene!
We're not spared the sight of the heartache and loss of the war but the movie is not depressing...far from it. Again, it may sound cliche to a world that has grown so cynical, but this is indeed about the triumph of the human spirit. If you need a reminder of what's important in life and what isn't, see this film! I hate to think that we need a war to remind us; let's learn this lesson well so that we won't have to keep waging them.
As everyone here has written, Greer Garson perfectly embodies all the virtues of Mrs. Miniver, including beauty. But I'd also like to mention the very handsome and charming Walter Pidgeon! The nonchalance in which he shows his son the damage the bombing has done to the house is really something, "We were thinking of having the dining room re-done!"
Movie Review: Even for John Wayne Fans
Summary: 5 Stars
This is by far not your typical war movie. I love war movies. I have the vast majority of war movies on DVD or VHS. I have been anxiously awaiting some of the older classic war movies like "The Enemy Below (1957)", "African Queen (1951)", "Mrs. Minniver (1942)", and "The Pied Piper (1942)" to come out on DVD. I am delighted to see this will be available in February.No movie that I have seen about WWII tells a better story of how the English endured so much hardship and personal loss for so many years. This could easily have been a very depressing movie but it has many lighter and uplifting moments that balance out the sorrow and make you feel good at the end of the movie. If you bought this just because of the award nominations it received you should consider yourself pretty smart. If you buy it because of the good reviews from people here at Amazon you are intelligent. If you bought it because you only buy the best movies, and this is a great movie with a boat load of extras, well there aren't words to describe how gifted you are.
If you enjoy movies that take a more personal look at the impact of war on families you will like this movie. Far from being boring as some family movies drag when they get into far to many personal details. This movie has plenty of action with the Battle of Dunkirk, German bombings and strafings, and a enemy parachutist on the loose. Mrs. Miniver reminds me a little of a tough woman like Maureen O'Hara in the John Wayne movies. Her strength is a little more sophisticated but nonetheless you know it is there. She is the kind of woman you know can weather the storm and you are happy to have her with you. The DVD includes Greer Garson academy award footage, photos, and a couple wartime shorts. The movie itself makes it a great buy, but with these bonuses it's a steal.
Movie Review: "It is a war of the people... of every man, woman, and child who loves freedom!"
Summary: 5 Stars
Mrs. Miniver isn't your typical wartime story, which is what makes it so wonderful. It carries the sentiment of its time with a great cast, but we don't see any violence and the war doesn't affect the people like one might expect. The results of war aren't sugarcoated, so the viewer is left with a powerful emotional experience at the end of the film.
Mrs. Miniver (Greer Garson) is a kind and elegant women of England. Her primary concerns are caring for her family and convincing her husband (Walter Pidgeon) that her extravagant new hat is worth the price she paid for it. Then her son Vincent (Richard Ney) comes home from school, only to catch the eye of wealthy Carol Beldon (Teresa Wright). The town's biggest concern is a pending flower show where legacy winner Lady Beldon (Dame May Whitty) is threatened by Mr. Ballard's (Henry Travers) "Mrs. Miniver" rose. All of their happy plans come to a halt, though, when the country goes to war and homes are replaced with bomb shelters and families are torn apart to do their duty for the cause.
The acting is outstanding. Garson is captivating in her role. Her age isn't well suited for the part, but her maturity makes that irrelevant. Ney is appropriately boyish and excited and Wright is lovely. Also notable are the children in the film (Christopher Severn and Clare Sandars) who play their roles convincingly and sweetly.
Strangely enough, although Ney played her son in this film, Garson married him after the filming of Mrs. Miniver. The union ended badly, but their real-life relationship makes for interesting viewing.
Also included on this disk is the theatrical trailor, Garson's Oscar speech, and two WWII era shorts.
Movie Review: A vivid portrait in the middle of the WW2!
Summary: 5 Stars
This was the first awarded picture about the war. An English middle class family will be shocked and struggled as well as the small community that intends to keep living according the usual traditions until the reality exploits with awful consequences for all of them.
There are very interesting secondary lines worked polished; the railroad man who cultivates with dedication his red rose, winning the expected prize; in the other hand we have the love affair of this young couple who seems to present there's no time to enjoy and even think about illusions due the cloudy horizon avoid to dream; the preacher man's sermons, far from being simple messages pregnant of hope, an epic advise, in the same line of Churchill appealing to the honor and sure convincing the liberty will impose itself; the human efforts of all those men who bravely will be help regardless the countless obstacles and risks; finally we have to our front page family Greer Carson as the abnegate, bold and brave wife who doesn't scare when is visited by this wounded Nazi Officer, Pigdeon is splendid too in his role. But this portrait would have been extremely incredible if there were not sensible losses.
William Wyler as the superb master who was, knew to distribute the emotional charge along the movie, avoiding to fall in common places and making one of his memorable films of his career.
It's hard for me to pronounce myself objectively about Mrs. Carson because I have always thought she was one of the ten best actresses in the Century, so I just simply recommend in case of you have missed it, this unusual and superb masterpieces of the Decade.