Mrs. Miniver (1942) User Reviews

A film which justifies its status as a major classic.

[bbhlthph · 8/10 · 27 August 2004]

It must be over 50 years since I first saw this classic film, and for some reason I never watched it again until recently. To do so was an interesting experience - reliving many memories of the war years which I mostly spent in London. I think the reason why there was such a long interval before I decided to watch it again was a subconscious recognition that it was produced at a time of crisis, largely for political reasons, and a feeling this was unduly evident in the screenplay. Mrs. Miniver was released a few months after Pearl Harbour, at a time when many U.S. citizens wondered why their country should be expending its efforts fighting in Europe when it was Japan which had attacked them The film was quite clearly written, produced and directed with the objective of answering this question. Winston Churchill has made it clear that he regarded the release of this film as one of the biggest single contributions made to the allied war effort (worth, in his words, "a flotilla of destroyers"), and it is hard today not to regard the film as primarily a piece of patriotic propaganda. However the deft and capable direction of William Wyler and the almost uniformly great acting by the cast, particularly Greer Garson as Mrs. Miniver, go a very long way towards concealing the fact that one is viewing a film with a message and few would deny that the Oscars it won were thoroughly deserved. Mrs. Miniver certainly earns its place on any short list of film classics.

There are of course already many comments on this film in the database, I would have been reluctant to add any more but for the realization that people of my age who lived in England during the war are becoming increasingly few, and our comments - which must have a rather different perspective to those of younger generations - will not continue to be available for very much longer. Many of the very fine sequences in this film have already been reviewed more than adequately by others and I will not comment further on them; but two sequences which I found particularly evocative were the call on amateur sailors to help evacuate the British army from Dieppe, and the pub scene where the locals were listening to the British traitor Lord Haw Haw broadcasting from Germany and telling his listeners how futile any further resistance would be. In stating this, I am simply confirming that for such documentary type films people who lived through the events depicted will assess the film on the basis of their personal memories rather than on their cinematographic quality.

Ultimately, both on its first viewing and when viewing it again a few days ago, I found that for me watching Mrs. Miniver was irritating because it inevitably showed an American view of life as it was in England. Numerous very small points indicated that we were seeing a glimpse of middle class English life through American eyes. Whilst as an English born viewer I found this irritating, it did not in any way detract from the primary purpose of the film in showing Americans what life in wartime Britain was really like, and why their involvement in the war in Europe was so vital. Ultimately I had to accept that this was a great film which well deserves its classic status.

Excellent Historical Perspective

[Lechuguilla · 9/10 · 8 June 2008]

Greer Garson gives a wonderful performance as Kay Miniver, a middle-aged English wife and mother whose kindness, intelligence, and positive spirit speak well of women all across England, during the difficult days of WWII. And that's what this movie is really about: the love and devotion of ordinary people during wartime.

Technically, this is a fine film. The script is well written and the plot is easy to follow. Most of the characters are sympathetic, and all of them have convincing arcs through the story. I did not care for the very Victorian Lady Beldon, but Dame May Witty gives a nice performance in that role. The film's plot has an interesting twist toward the end that coincides with the randomness of the effects of war. The story's tone does drip with a bit of sentimentality. But given the fact that the movie itself was made during the war it portrays, I think some sentimentality is entirely appropriate.

The film's B&W cinematography is conventional but competent. Production design and costumes are credible. And the special effects are surprisingly good for the early 1940s.

I will say that the film seems very dated. Customs and manners have changed so much in the last 65 years; the behavior of characters in this film is so proper and formal. That's not a criticism, just an observation.

The 1930s and 40s must have been a truly awful time for peace loving people. It's good, therefore, that we have high-quality films like Mrs. Miniver as a reminder of what life was like for ordinary people, to give us some historical perspective from which to view our own times. Of the many WWII films that I have seen, "Mrs. Miniver" is one of the best.

Tear jerking excellence

[Calysta · 9/10 · 17 January 2000]

At the time it was a sensation and one of great influence, which obviously hit home with many American families, with the reality of the War still of course very much alive. The ending is not the expected happy one, but is instead rather thought provoking, stirring and influential. Reality, or part reality is after all always better than the typical MGM musical. Today it is not possible for it to retain the power it held during the period, but one of the reasons it is still a good movie because it is great wholesome family entertainment.

The Minivers are a family with great fortune who are well over the average income earning line to be considered just a middle class family. This is obvious with the picturesque house designed by Mr Miniver the architect. Some of the scenes have now become more noticeably studio bound now, which was something I did not notice before because it was one of the first old classic movies I did watched, but it hardly matters, as it still remains one of my favourite movies.

Greer Garson, in another of her charming English rose roles, gives a superb performance, as the devoted and loving wife. Walter Pidgeon is also great in his role, the second of his teamings with Garson. The great supporting cast includes Teresa Wright, Dame May Whitty, Richard Ney, Reginald Owen and Henry Travers. Henry Travers' as Mr Ballard, station master and a keen rose grower is in particular a memorable performer.

Elements of the film have been well combined with drama, romance, light humour, and finally, tragedy. It may have been given the Hollywood and typical glossy MGM treatment, but it hasn't forgotten either humanity or the sacrifices associated with war time problems.

Showered with accolades and awards at the time, the movie won Oscars for Greer Garson, Teresa Wright, screenplay, William Wyler and Best Picture of 1942. Walter Pidgeon lost to the dynamic performance of James Cagney in "Yankee Doodle Dandy". Henry Travers, and Dame May Whitty also netted nominations.

An agreeable screenplay and the direction of veteran William Wyler make this a forgotten treat. Few films have been as effective as this, and although its message may not ring as clear now as it did then, it has to be saluted for the war time morale it brought to movie goers around the world.

Rating: 10/10

Watch out for the backs of the heads!

[nick-368 · 27 February 2000]

What a wonderful film Mrs Miniver still is 58 years later. Like Coppola's 'Gardens of Stone', it deals with war by following the lives of those affected by it, and without showing any combat. It's moving, but unlike many other films of the period, totally unsentimental, though has many warm and winning moments (Pidgeon spanking Garson as the maid walks in, following an eventful morning, to say the least!)

Two sequences particularly clicked on this viewing. The first involves the son/pilot who is recalled to service abruptly when his leave has only just begun. He goes upstairs to get his belongings, the mother and fiancée are left in the room, with the backs of their heads to camera - a most unusual shot 'against the rules' of filming. Then you realise the centre of attention is the space left on the stair by the son - they and we are missing him, awaiting his return, but only for a moment as he must leave again. It's as poignant as the doorway framing scenes in 'The Searchers', and rather subtle.

Another scene is the family in the air raid shelter undergoing a bombing attack. The claustrophobia of the situation, and the bravery and dignity of the powerless family caught there, is focused by a single point of view. The unspoken fear is on the face of Garson, vocalised by the kids who finally awake as the bombardment increases. Long, simple takes perfectly capture the intense atmosphere (and exceptional acting.

When I was young I never appreciated this art of 'invisible' film-making, and just why such directors as William Wyler or Preston Sturges or Billy Wilder do such a good job without you even noticing. The fact their films stand the test of time so well is testament to their wonderful abilities as film-makers.

It isn't sappy!

[Cincy · 10/10 · 2 October 1999]

I avoided watching "Mrs. Miniver" for years because I assumed it was a treacly, sentimentalized film that ignored what I considered the real issues of war. Knowing Greer Garson, who I considered the anti-Crawford, starred in it gave me more of an excuse.

I finally watched it as "film homework" and loved it. It's about an upper-middle-class English family (although most of the American actors are terrible holding their accents) and their experience in the early years of World War II.

A swiftly-moving storyline takes us from the complacency of peace through air raids, Dunkirk and tragedy. No one is a super-hero, but decent people who understand they must put aside their personal concerns and do what must be done to fight for their country and freedom. No one preaches except the minister and he, only rarely.

Of course, it being England, there's time for a flower show, and being a movie, there's a romance (WWII was not kind to Theresa Wright's characters, however).

The film's remarkable pacing is one of its great highlights. Long transitions are covered in the merest of hints; a comment that a servant has departed, for example. Yet there's time for powerful, lengthy scenes such as that of the Minivers holed up in a crude bomb shelter with their two young children, away from their storybook home. Despite the increasingly hellish crash of bombs and bullets, they try to chat about knitting and such. But soon the fear builds to an unbearable climax and the family desperately clings to one another.

The acting is generally superb, and much of the story is told through silent shots of the stars, rather than dialog. Few moments are as touching as the shot of the glowing young wife seeing her husband off to war, admiring his courage, contrasted by the barely hidden fear and maturity of the mother.

You can nit-pick; the movie has many of the conventional stylistic hallmarks of the period. But it is the masterpiece it has long been hailed.

War Drama Still Highly Significant

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 29 June 2002]

With her peaceful English life suddenly thrown into turmoil by the Second World War, MRS. MINIVER continues to provide a solid rock of security for her family.

Released seven months after America's entry into the War, this film did a great deal to inform the American people about Britain's defiance against Nazi Germany and the steadfast resolution of the British people in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds. Coming at a time of heightened emotions - as well as being expertly produced and extremely well acted - it is easy to see why the film earned 6 Oscars, including Best Picture & Best Director.

Greer Garson is completely marvelous in the title role, (for which she won the Best Actress Oscar), presenting a portrait of grace & courage under fire which transcends mere acting. She is representing an entire island full of women who grew the crops & ran the factories and kept the nation operating while the men went to battle. Through her wonderful performance, Garson shows how those she symbolized more than did their part in the fight against the Axis.

Two other ladies give outstanding performances in the film. As the local aristocrat, Dame May Whitty is properly imperious & proud, yet the viewer sees her character unbend over the course of the film to become much more vulnerable. Winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, lovely Teresa Wright is luminous as Dame May's granddaughter. Sweetly sensible, elegantly at ease, joyous during hardships, Miss Wright gives a performance not easy to forget.

In solid, understated roles, both Walter Pidgeon as Mr. Miniver & Richard Ney as his elder son, supply good support to the ladies in the cast. Pidgeon gets to pilot one of the Little Boats to Dunkirk and Ney becomes a flyer with the RAF, but both are performed in an almost subdued manner, leaving the heroics to the women.

A quintet of fine actors add small, deft brushstrokes to the movie's canvas: cherubic Henry Travers as the station-master who delights in the gentle art of breeding roses; blustery Reginald Owen as the local storekeeper who eagerly takes over as air raid warden; kindly Henry Wilcoxon as the village vicar; blunt Rhys Williams as the boyfriend of the Miniver's maid (comically played by Brenda Forbes); and Helmut Dantine as the pitiless German pilot who briefly invades the Miniver household.

Six-year-old Christopher Severn will either delight or annoy as the Miniver's talkative infant son. Clare Sandars, as his slightly older sister, is left something of a cipher by the script.

Movie mavens should recognize Ian Wolfe, uncredited as a boatman helping with the Dunkirk rescue.

The scenes involving the brutal aerial bombardment are still vividly suspenseful, focusing primarily on the faces of the actors involved.

Very dated morale booster, but with some good parts.

[xavrush89 · 6/10 · 28 March 2004]

This film gets off to a REALLY slow start, so slow in fact that it may lose some viewers if it airs on television. However, it is worth staying with for Garson's performance as well as the rest of the ensemble cast, once the dramatic stakes are raised. The film really does show the impact of war on civilians more than other films of the day, and the long set-up starts to make sense later in the film when we really start pulling for this family.

I do think that this is one of the more dated of the Best Picture Academy Award winners of the era. (This was right before Casablanca raised the bar significantly.) It is undoubtedly the best-known of the TEN Best Picture nominees from that year (aside from The Magnificent Ambersons), but one could argue it was a week year at the Oscars in general. The film for which I would have voted, Now Voyager, wasn't even nominated! Just goes to show you what the mentality was like in the early 1940s--propaganda over substance.

The one good thing about this film winning Best Picture is that it increases the likelihood of Greer Garson being seen by movie buffs, and she deserves that. Fans of director William Wyler can obviously find better movies in his filmography. Grade for this film: B-

Simply beautiful

[mercybell · 10/10 · 25 January 2003]

I've seen this film several times now, and despite knowing what occurs, the beauty never wears off.

The film is aesthetically lovely, thanks to William Wyler's low key yet attentive and detailed style. The characters act naturally, something oft times missing in older films that lean to be more stylized. The acting is incredible in this film, and something many a modern film would do well to copy. Greer Garson is the portrait of strength, beauty, and dignity as Mrs. Miniver in a brilliantly played role. Yet it's the substance that stays with you. The film is telling a story about people and a time in history, and it's simple because it allows itself to be. It flows like real life, the trivial, the simple, the small moments, the enormous and life shattering. It taps into the real emotions people feel, and not big "war movie" emotions, but the joy of greeting a child upon return, of having a flower named after you and winning an award, of happiness and humor, of exhaustion, fear, pain, and grief. The film gently brings us into another life and lets us reside there. While there, we begin to love the Minivers and those that they love.

At one point in the movie, the family is in a bomb shelter and Mr. and Mrs. Miniver are talking. Mr. Miniver picks up "Alice in Wonderland" and begins to recite a passage about the joys of childhood, a summer past, and the simple pleasures in life. Mrs. Miniver finishes the passage, and Mr. Miniver (Walter Pidgeon) mentions that he wonders if Lewis Carrol ever thought that his story would be so beloved decades later. I found that interesting, because after all these years and viewings, it's the characters and their realistic palpable experiences and emotions, the strength and courage they show, and the simplicity of the film in allowing us to see it plainly and feel it too, because it's a story of the human experience we can all relate with that isn't limited to the battleground, that do and will keep this movie everlasting, and an homage to the human spirit.

Its Propaganda Value is Greater than its Artistic Merit

[JamesHitchcock · 6/10 · 30 December 2005]

Winston Churchill famously said of this film that it had done more for the war effort than a flotilla of destroyers. Set in what Halliwell's Film Guide describes as "the rose-strewn English village, Hollywood variety", it is a quite open and unashamed work of propaganda which deals with the fortunes of an upper-middle-class English family during the early days of the Second World War. Clem the husband takes part in the Dunkirk evacuation, his wife Kay helps to capture a German airman and their son Vin joins the RAF and fights in the Battle of Britain while conducting a romance with the attractive granddaughter of the Lady of the Manor.

Churchill's view of "Mrs Miniver" was widely shared at the time, as it won six Oscars, including "Best Picture" and "Best Director" for William Wyler. Sixty years after the end of the war, however, it is hard to escape the conclusion that those awards were given for propaganda value than for artistic merit. I have not seen all the films that were in contention for the "Best Picture" award in 1943, but there are at least two in the list which I would rate much more highly, Orson Welles's "The Magnificent Ambersons" and Michael Powell's "Forty-Ninth Parallel", another film which can be regarded as wartime propaganda but which deals with its subject-matter in a more thoughtful and less sentimental way than "Mrs Miniver". Perhaps Powell's implied criticism of American neutrality during the period 1939-41 did not go down well with the Academy.

Much of the criticism of "Mrs Miniver" has concentrated on what is perceived to be an inaccurate, Hollywoodized view of British life. There is some truth in these criticisms- the characterisation of Vin, for example, as a middle-class radical who utters his left-wing opinions in a pompous voice seems to owe much to the American view of socialism as the opium of the bourgeois intellectual. It seems, however, unfair to put the blame on Hollywood for all the stereotypes contained in the film. The idea that English rural life typically consists of lovable working-class rustics and formidable but decent aristocrats living in picture-postcard villages and obsessed by hobbies such as rose-growing may be a caricature, but it is the sort of caricature that could just as easily be found in British films of this period (or, for that matter, in some of a later date). Some of the accents seem strange to modern British audiences- Theresa Wright in particular seems stuck in mid-Atlantic- but I doubt if American audiences of the forties were bothered. Walter Pigeon makes no attempt to disguise his Canadian accent, but there is nothing in the script to say that Clem is actually an Englishman.

The film has much in common with another wartime movie from two years later, "Since You Went Away", which did for the American home front what "Mrs Miniver" had done for the British. Both films combine patriotism and sentimentality in equal doses, and both feature a number of similar characters- a young man eager to serve his country, a pretty teenage girlfriend, an impossibly young-looking mother (Greer Garson here, Claudette Colbert in the later film) and even a crusty old grandparent who turns out to have a good heart beneath a forbidding exterior. It seems likely that "Since You Went Away" was influenced by the earlier film. Of the two I would rate "Mrs Miniver" slightly higher, but it does share some of the defects- excessive length and miscasting - that flawed the later film. Although it only lasts for two and a quarter hours as opposed to three, it is slow-moving at times, particularly during the first half. Greer Garson, who was thirty-eight at the time and looked ten years younger, was not convincing as the mother of the twenty-six year-old Richard Ney, who later became her husband. Her "Best Actress" award is particularly hard to understand. As with "Since You went Away", most of the best acting comes in the minor roles, such as May Witty as the formidable dowager or Henry Wilcoxon as the patriotic Vicar.

My own views of the film are best encapsulated by that quote from "Halliwell's" about "false sentiment, absurd rural types and melodramatic situations" that was so derided by another reviewer. The sentiment seems so false precisely because it is deliberately manufactured for propaganda purposes. Wilcoxon's final speech is delivered in the sort of ringing tones that suggest he would have made an admirable substitute Prime Minister if Churchill had for any reason been unavailable, but these are very much the sentiments of 1940. By 1942 the world had moved on a bit. It was an unfortunate irony that a film which so excoriates the German bombing of Britain should have been released in the first week of June 1942, a few days after Bomber Command's famous "Thousand Bomber Raid" on Cologne. There is a respectable historical case to be made that the bombing of German cities was a legitimate and necessary military tactic, but it seems hypocritical of Allied propagandists to have attacked the enemy for using the same tactic themselves. "Mrs Miniver" may have been effective propaganda, and propaganda in the service of a laudable cause, but that ought not to prevent us from recognising it for what it is. 6/10

The People's War

[bkoganbing · 10/10 · 21 November 2007]

With the help of the extensive British colony in Hollywood, William Wyler directed at MGM the best World War II propaganda film to come out of our film industry. Mrs. Miniver won a host of Oscars including Best Picture, Best Actress for Greer Garson, Best Supporting Actress for Teresa Wright, Best Director for William Wyler, all deserved.

Forget all the war pictures, this film about the trials of a British family just before and during World War II struck a poignant note with the American public. Showing how they were coping with the attacks on their civilian population made every American family identify with the Minivers. If they fail in their resolution to defend their blessed isle, we in America could be facing these same trials and depredations.

Like the people in The Diary of Anne Frank, the Minivers are such ordinary folks, caught up in a thing that was not of their making. The film opens with Greer Garson coming home after a shopping trip to London deciding how to tell her husband Walter Pidgeon about a new hat. On the way home, the stationmaster Henry Travers asks Garson permission to name a rose he's been cultivating for the flower show the Miniver Rose. Pidgeon's splurged on a new car and he's trying to figure out how to tell Garson.

The war comes and the Minivers and all their neighbors in their small country town have to deal with rationing and shortages and then the blitz as the ruling malignancy in Germany seeks to terrorize the British people into submission. As London took it as their Prime Minister said it would, so to do the small villages and hamlets, especially if they're located next to an RAF base.

Which is where their oldest boy, Richard Ney, is now stationed after having left Oxford. He's involved too, with a radiantly beautiful Teresa Wright as the granddaughter of the local grande dame, Dame May Witty.

Wright is involved in two of my favorite scenes. When she first meets the pretentious Ney and gently but firmly puts him down, who could help but fall for this girl. And her final scene with Greer Garson is what I'm convinced got them both Oscars. You have to see it, I can't say more and the hardest of hearts will be moved.

Pidgeon's moment comes when he's called away because he owns a small boat, a cabin cruiser we'd call it and ordered to take it to Ramsbottom. It's the beginning of the greatest citizen mobilization of the last century, the evacuation of the British Army from the beach at Dunkirk. He and thousands like him are told what the mission is and they could expect to be under fire at that beach and crossing 40 miles of English Channel. No one flinches and a very nice animated scene at night is showing all of these small crafts filling up the river on a date with history.

Garson also comes face to face with Nazism herself as she first is held captive and then turns the tables on a wounded Nazi flier who bailed out played by Helmut Dantine. Don't think all the women in America didn't think about coming face to face with evil right in their kitchens.

Both Walter Pidgeon for Best Actor and Henry Travers for Best Supporting Actor got nominations themselves, but lost to James Cagney and Van Heflin respectively. In addition Dame May Witty was also up for Best Supporting Actress, but lost to her fellow cast member Teresa Wright.

The valedictory for the film is delivered by Vicar Henry Wilcoxon after a bad raid in which several cast members are killed. With so much death and destruction waged on them at home, it has become the people's war, more a people's war than it was even in the United States with so many civilian casualties. We got a taste of it at Pearl Harbor and a much bigger taste on 9/11 in New York, Northern Virginia, and on the Pennsylvania countryside. The words of Henry Wilcoxon should be standard reading or viewing. It's what makes Mrs. Miniver such a timeless classic as we deal with another brand of totalitarian malignancy in this century.

Vintage movie with intense drama , love stories , emotion and great sentimentality

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 23 November 2020]

Classic soap opera movie of the 40s with drama, patriotism , War, romance and family relationships. Concerning a middle class family and their beloved relations , misaventures and distresses, along with other villagers . An average English couple practising their little economíes but housed in gracious splendour , as they live at a countryside house in England . Then the main Lady : Greer Garson, is attacked by a Nazi parachutist : Helmut Dantine, and the gallant hubby : Walter Pidgeon stiffen the old upper lip before sailing off to help with the Dunkirk evacuation. In her arms..he felt a quiet peace no terror could disturb! Mrs Miniver is more than a picture, it is dramatic , human and real! Another triumph for Metro Goldwyn Mayer, the producers of Mrs Miniver.

Hollywood multi-Oscarized tribute to the home front in Wartime Britain. This is a moving and jingoist drama about a good family living in an England which may be at war but where the local flower show soldiers on, there everybody is frightfully nice . It is well shot with a high sense , sweetness and great sensibility , all of them wrapped up in yards of tasteful gross . A cool but some dated film, at the time it was voted the greatest movie made . However, being some corny and with improbable scenes as Mrs Miniver disarm a German pilot and hide his gun behind the teacups . The main and support cast are uniformly good . Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon are frankly well. Being finely accompanied by an excellent plethora of secondaries , such as : Teresa Wright, Dame May Whitty, Reginald Owen, Henry Travers, Richard Ney, Henry Wilconson, Helmut Dantine, among others.

It contains a luxurious and Oscarized cinematography by Joseph Ruttenberg. As well as evocative and romantic musical score by Herbert Stothart .This multi-Oscared motion picture was competently directed by William Wyler .This great Hollywood directed made a lot of films , some of them considered to be classy films , making movies of all kinds of genres and with big successes such as Funny Girl, The Collector, Ben Hur, The Big Country, Friendly Persuasion, Desperate Hours, Roman Holyday, Detective Story , Carrie , The Heiress , The Best Years of Our Lives ,The Little Foxes , The Westener, Wuthering Heights , Jezebel, Dead End , These Three, Come and get it , The Good Fairy. And , of course , this Mrs Miniver that has the following rating : 7/10. The flick will appeal to classic Hollywood fillms lovers . Well worth watching.

A superb film that is much more than a propaganda piece

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 30 August 2014]

Mrs Miniver may not be a "flawless" film(then again few films are), character development is somewhat sketchy- though you still care a great deal for the characters- and some of the accents don't convince with Teresa Wright trying too hard and Walter Pidgeon not seeming to attempt one. But when everything else and the film on the whole is as superb as it is they can be seen as trivial and can be easily be overlooked. Mrs Miniver mayn't connect for some by today's standards as much as the other Best Picture nominees that year(Yankee Doodle Dandy for instance still has a lot of appeal) but it's the most important one especially thematically and it certainly connected with me. It won 6 Oscars and was nominated for another 6, all richly deserved, though if more than one winner was allowed in a category May Witty deserved to win her Supporting Actress Oscar. It's a beautiful-looking film with some very hauntingly deliberate shots, and there is a very good soundtrack complete with a sensitive yet sweeping music score and a great use of period favourites. The special effects are great for their time and stand up well today too, while the sound effects have a harrowing effect, the explosions and such almost deafening, how turbulent this particular period was in history is believably done. Mrs Miniver also has a thoughtful script that has emotion and tension(often done subtly, like in the body language), and a story that has a message and theme that still resonates- if perhaps not as relevant- and despite it being a melodrama never feels overwrought. The whole film is genuinely powerful and touching and is helped by the remarkably nuanced pacing, just see what is done with the scene when the husband is seen off to war by his wife. William Wyler directed several great films, a lot of them as much as masterpieces or as close as, and his direction here is tight while alive to nuances. And the acting is one of the film's best assets, with the beautiful Greer Garson outstanding in perhaps a career-best performance, Teresa Wright luminous and like a bright light in a dire situation, May Witty does imperious brilliantly, Walter Pidgeon's understated performance is among his best and Henry Travers is really charming. All in all, Mrs Miniver may not be as such a flawless film but it is a superb one that was worthy of its Best Picture win and is much more than a propaganda piece. 9.5/10 Bethany Cox

A Mixed bag

[gata86 · 6/10 · 21 July 2009]

I have to admit I was disappointed by "Mrs. Miniver," probably because of this film's excellent reputation.

For about the first third of the film I was wondering why it was called "Mrs. Miniver" when the story focused on so many of the other characters—I think the film is more of an ensemble piece. The first third of the film, though not exactly boring or irritating, was predictable and rather bland. The whole show is pretty slow until Helmut Dantine shows up and gives a truly stirring performance as a German flyer.

And then Mrs. Miniver herself was disappointing. Geer Garson's character is noble, but Garson plays it in such a stagey, overdone way that Mrs. Miniver seems less real woman and more glamorous actress. (Garson's obviously false eyelashes and showy outfits don't help.)

On the other hand, there is much to appreciate in this film. This film is obviously historically valuable. The Vicar's sermon is well-worth seeing/hearing and is insightful and moving even by today's standards. The scene with the family in the bomb shelter makes one feel one has some idea of what it is like to go through an air raid. Not to mention the way this film influenced Americans about joining the war.

One of the biggest praises I can give this film is that unlike many of its peers it (eventually) creates genuine suspense and genuine surprise. Most movies from this time period are rather predictable to modern audiences (not that that makes them necessarily bad), but not "Mrs. Miniver." So, on the whole it's a mixed bag, but ultimately worth seeing.

This Is A Sappy And Dull Film, Hopelessly Out Of Date And Will Only Appeal To Americans Who Don't Know Their WWII History.

[Michael-70 · 1/10 · 5 August 2009]

Mrs. Miniver was one of Hollywood's major attempts to rally support for Britain in the early years of World War II. However, at its onset, MGM had a different approach to its political content than that which ultimately emerged in the film.

Early in production, Louis B. Mayer called director William Wyler into his office and told him to lighten up the character of the downed German flyer (played by Helmut Dantine) because the United States "didn't hate anyone" and Mayer had to answer to his stockholders. Selling American films abroad was (and still is) big business and Mayer didn't want to ruffle any box office feathers.

I guess that's not surprising from a studio that paid a producer to scan the credits and change names that sounded too "Jewish" for films being released abroad. Wyler was allowed to make the German character suitably nasty only after Hitler declared war on the United States after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Ironically, while Mrs. Miniver was very popular in the United States and won several Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actress, it was ridiculed everywhere else, especially in England, the country it was supposed to glorify.

Mrs. Miniver is the story of the Miniver family and their genteel life in "merrie olde," carefree England before Germany invades Poland and begins hostilities. The country life enjoyed by the Minivers (architect Father, shop-'til-she-drops Mother, spoiled Oxford-educated son, etc.) is undermined until they all learn the meaning of sacrifice.

One of the reasons the English scoffed at this film is its condescending attitude to the lower classes who were fighting the real war. We're supposed to feel sorry that poor Mr. Miniver nearly wrecks his sailboat trying to help his countrymen evacuate Dunkirk.

Most of the actual Dunkirk defenders had no country house to go back to nor a family boat to take them. The "middle-class" Miniver family represents the kind of people who actively ignored Hitler until he started dropped bombs on them.

What are their biggest worries before hostilities' break out?

How can they possibly afford the new car father just bought as well as the frivolous new hat mother simply had to have? Will the station master's rose, named after Mrs. Miniver, win the annual flower competition? Do you care? The Minivers are supposed to be the family we all identify with and they make me wish I were an orphan.

Not since seeing The Sound of Music have I rooted for the Nazis in a film. (I would have rooted for anyone to shut that Trapp family up. They couldn't walk across a room without breaking into a song.) The creaky mechanisms of cliché melodrama are painfully evident here: the young lovers, the noble upperclassmen, the sacrifice of the family house, the brave church rector, etc.

Early on I played a game trying to figure out which of the main characters would die. My money was on the cat the littlest Miniver loved. But, as it turns out, I guessed incorrectly, although the actual victim did not take me by surprise.

This gung-ho, rally-the-troops agitprop doesn't travel well over time and Mrs. Miniver is hopelessly dependent for relevance on the time for which it was made. The theme of civilians in war is a fascinating one, but Mrs. Miniver fails to convey the terror of a non- combatant waiting to see if bombs will drop on his house.

While bombs fall on her neighborhood Mrs. Miniver sits in the basement calmly knitting, thereby carrying the stiff upper lip British attitude to an absurd extreme. Other films like Hope and Glory, The Marriage of Maria Braun and the great Dutch film Soldier of Orange not only portray the tragedy of a daily routine upset by war, but are also refreshingly free of propaganda.

So check one of them out before seeing this disappointing film.

A powerful image of war on the home front

[michaeljacobs · 30 November 2003]

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.

stands the test of time

[greenforest56 · 8/10 · 15 November 2005]

One unnoticed talent in the picture was Christopher Severn playing the part of Toby Miniver, the Miniver's youngest child. Child actors are often cast strictly for their appearance and their performances frequently leave much to be desired. However, Christopher, playing at such a young age, gives an absolutely delightful performance that is also refreshingly professional. His timing is excellent, his dialogue is on the button, and he hits all his marks. He far outshines his other child co-star. He contributed to every scene he was in. Ironically, the rest of his short career was spent in oblivion, not even receiving screen credit in some of his roles.

The rest of the picture is very good. The sappy violin music through much of the picture could be toned down. But the picture as a whole is far less sappy than many other propaganda pictures of the day and much more believable. Callous modern audiences, hardened by the deadening sex and violence constantly doled out on today's screen, may find some of its conventions amusing. But it stands the test of time and is still a very watchable picture.

A MUST SEE

[stan_c · 10/10 · 15 May 2021]

I saw Mrs. Miniver as a kid and was totally captured by it. The cast is excellent. Greer Garson. Walter Pigeon. Teresa Wright. Dame May Whitty. All perfect. It's more than a War movie. It's about determination, heroism, love, loss and life. I've seen it many times since and never grow tired.

"There'll always be roses"

[Steffi_P · 7/10 · 7 April 2009]

The Oscars come in for a fair bit of flack, particularly when they are deemed to have favoured safe, populist pictures and neglected films that were unconventional and ahead of their time. But say what you like about the academy; a list of Best Picture winners gives you a better indication than any other what movies caught the mood of the times and what Hollywood aspired to in any given era.

The above is especially true in the 1940s, when society and cinema were changing fast – mostly due to the war. Mrs Miniver was released about six months after the US joined the conflict. For most Americans the war was an increasingly real and scary prospect, yet the full horror and scale of it had not yet hit home. Mrs Miniver was a perfect propaganda story for these times, because rather than panicking the audience with grim realities it optimistically presents the war as an inconvenience to be endured, and even as a suburban adventure.

The picture benefits from some very strong storytelling, the screenwriters taking the time to establish the characters and their relationships before the outbreak of war. This shows us what normality is for these people before it is disrupted, as well giving the various story arcs a more satisfying payoff at the end. Unfortunately the characters themselves are stereotypes – of course all to the purpose of the picture's nature as propaganda, but a little grating today.

Luckily, the director is William Wyler, not only a brilliant craftsman of cinema but someone who could bring the best out of drama because he focused so much on the performers. He brings Greer Garson's face to our attention right from the off, and she is rarely off screen from that point on. Although Wyler's style is generally quite understated and unobtrusive, he could still pull some pretty nifty tricks to get the right faces in the frame at any given time. A particularly neat moment is when Henry Travers shows Garson the Miniver rose. As she leans towards the flower, she obscures Travers' face, but the camera moves with her and we now see Travers reflected in a mirror. It's important that we see her movement – it shows her genuine interest – but we also need to see his reaction, and his sudden appearance in the mirror brings it to our attention.

The upshot of Wyler's actor-centred direction is that he tended to coax some excellent performances from his cast. Garson is under a lot of pressure, bring at the centre of the movie, but she pulls it off superbly. Theresa Wright is of course very good too, but nicest of all are the deep performances where you don't expect them. Henry Travers and Dame May Witty are essentially character actors brought in to tick a few boxes, but here both are at their best and they actually manage to give some credibility to their two-note roles. And Henry Wilcoxon, normally a rather bland fixture of Cecil B. DeMille epics, is flawless as the vicar and gives such heartfelt delivery on his final speech that it was apparently broadcast on Voice of America.

These touches of quality aside, and while Mrs Miniver was surely a moving and effective propaganda piece in its time, we don't live in 1942 and we have to judge it upon how it looks today. Hollywood's distance from England and the war is noticeable, and the overall tone seems almost disrespectfully cheerful. Several moments just look a bit silly – for example a dogfight taking place at forty feet, and what I call "the talking boat scene" (you'll know it when you see it). A truer and deeper picture of the home front was painted in British-made features such as In Which we Serve. And it's not the lack of combat and action that brings Mrs Miniver down – after all look how effectively the post-combat drama Best Years of Our Lives conveys the impact of war with no action whatsoever. It's simply that Mrs Miniver pulls too many punches, is too soft and too light. And yet, at the time, what else could it be?

A perfect look at a not so perfect transition in time.

[mark.waltz · 10/10 · 24 April 2013]

There's nothing like a suburban British housewife to aid her family in getting through the war. In the case of the upper middle class Miniver family, it is the wife (Greer Garson) who keeps the home fires burning, literally, as she fends off Nazi fliers, keeps her children calm in an air raid, and helps the family mend through a tragedy concerning her oldest son (Richard Ney) and the young woman he loves (Teresa Wright). She is also beloved in her village of Belden, given the distinct honor of having a beautiful red rose named after her by the town's long-time railroad station master (Henry Travers), daring to enter it in a contest opposite the town's delightfully imperious matriarch (Dame May Witty), Wright's grandmother. This leads to the famous town flower show sequence, a plot element so remembered by fans that years later it was incorporated into "Downton Abbey" involving Dame Maggie Smith's character.

Of course, there's more to this film than a flower show, the guilt over buying a new hat during troubled financial times (while husband Walter Pidgeon buys a new car on the very same day with the same trepidation of telling his wife) and young love. It's about England's transition from innocence to potential annihilation as the evil Nazi Germany bombs the town (at least they waited until the winner of the Belden cup was announced), and how peace loving communities will not allow tyrants to attempt to destroy their freedom. Everybody in this peaceful village gets involved, from store owner turned air raid warden Reginald Owen, parson Henry Wilcoxin and even the Miniver's servants. A screenplay filled with light sentiment, sweet romance, subtle comedy and a divine spirituality of good vs. evil makes this truly a perfect film with everybody excellently cast and the pacing perfectly fitting to each mood that the film undertakes.

It's been tempting over the years to make fun of this film which has been spoofed ("Laugh-In", parodying the Nazi soldier with Arte Johnson approaching guest-star Garson) and given legend for Garson's alleged lengthy Oscar speech. It should be noted that 1943's Oscar Winning Best Film "Casablanca" had a New York release during the same year as "Mrs. Miniver", which makes a close call for which of the two would have won the Oscar had "Casablanca" had its Los Angeles release just a few months earlier. On its own, "Mrs. Miniver" still stands the test of time today, and that is also due to its brilliant screenplay and tight direction by the legendary William Wyler.

Dated but powerful World War II melodrama

[Turfseer · 6/10 · 10 January 2009]

Winston Churchill's favorite movie was "Mrs. Miniver" and I can see why. It's an American picture designed to create a deep bond between a formerly isolationist American public (recently thrust into war) with the British people (who had already been involved in World War II for two years). While it has many moving scenes, 'Mrs. Miniver' is also very uneven.

The first half hour of the film is extremely slow-moving. We're introduced to the town of Belham with both its upper-class and lower middle-class characters. Henry Travers (famous for playing 'Clarence' in 'It's a Wonderful Life' five years later) plays Mr. Ballard, the kindly stationmaster who plans to enter his rose in an annual flower festival sponsored by Lady Beldon (he names the flower 'Mrs. Miniver' in honor of the title character who has been friendly with him in the village for years). Ballard is a rustic simpleton and Lady Beldon is the stuffy aristocrat who provide the 'comic' relief in the film. Suffice it to say that the conflict over the flower is probably the weakest (and most dated) aspect of the picture.

And then there's Mrs. Miniver and her husband, Clem, who we're also introduced to during this opening sequence. The Minivers both feel guilty about spending money over budget—Mrs. Miniver worries about an expensive hat and Mr. Miniver is concerned about a new car he's purchased. They are the parents of two small but wonderful kids. Soon afterward, we discover that Mrs. Miniver has a son, Vin, who's a student at Oxford (the casting of the Richard Ney as the son seems a bit odd since Greer Garson doesn't look much older than him; in real life she was 11 years older and ironically they got married right after this picture was made—only to divorce five years later!). Vin is probably the most interesting of the family members as he has Socialist leanings and seems a bit of a hothead. Also in the mix is Lady Beldon's granddaughter, Carol, (played by a solid Theresa Wright), who comes over to see Mrs. Miniver who she hopes will persuade her good friend Ballard to drop out of the flower festival (and allow her grandmother to take the top prize, as she's done for the past thirty years).

The film's inciting incident occurs when the Vicar makes his announcement to the townspeople during a Sunday morning service that England has declared war on Germany. The film then focuses on the townspeoples' response (and particularly how the Minivers react and contribute to the war effort). There are many memorable scenes. Clem Miniver gets a call to meet with the other middle-aged and older men in the town at 2:30 in the morning at a bar and then are called upon to take their boats and be part of the famous rescue of thousands of British soldiers on the beaches at Dunkirk (the scene where an 'armada' of small boats slowly moving out to sea is very impressive). And then there's Mrs. Miniver who ends up confronting a downed German flier inside her house while he brandishes a pistol (in a touch of pure propaganda, Mrs. Miniver slaps the soldier in the face during his ugly pro-Nazi diatribe!).

The two most powerful scenes in the film correspond to the Act 2 Crisis and Act 3 Climax. The Crisis occurs when the Minivers huddle with their young children inside the bomb shelter at their house. There are no exterior visuals of the bombing raid itself. The focus is on the family's reaction as we hear the SOUND of the bombs falling. It's a powerful and unsettling scene since it reveals what it's like for ordinary people to be caught up in the horrors of war. The Climax is even more shocking. Throughout the film we're expecting that Vin (who is now an RAF pilot) will end up as the one who's killed. But as Mrs. Miniver and Carol (who now has married Vin) drive home after the flower festival during an air raid (with their headlights off to avoid detection), Carol is shot as one of the enemy planes flies low and strafes the area with gunfire. Mrs. Miniver cradles the dying Carol in her arms after she manages to get back to her house. The next day, they're about to tell their son Carol is dead but he already has heard. The townspeople gather for a memorial service and all note the sacrifice of various victims including Carol and the kindly Mr. Ballard. The town is transformed with the Vicar speaking on their behalf during his sermon. He echoes the townspeoples' collective determination to see the war effort through, eventually leading to victory.

While the film is called "Mrs. Miniver", she feels incomplete as a character. There are long stretches in the film where the focus is not on Mrs. Miniver at all. Aside from her confrontation with the German pilot, most of her role focuses on nurturing family members.

'Mrs. Miniver' served a vital function during World War II to boost the morale of the American public on the home front. If you're expecting on the other hand to see the kind of multi-dimensional characters found in a film like 'It's a Wonderful Life', you will be sadly disappointed. The powerful scenes of war along with its impact on ordinary people all but make up for the incomplete character studies proffered up by the film's screenwriters.

A Real Boost to Britain's war Effort

[dougandwin · 8/10 · 3 July 2004]

There is no doubt that this film was released at a time when Britain most needed it - a tribute to the ordinary Englishman in time of war...Certainly it went right over the top in many ways, but lifted the spirits and raised patriotism to a remarkable level, when things were looking very dire for England. The cast was superb, with Greer Garson in the title role, supported wonderfully well by Walter Pidgeon and Teresa Wright. Richard Ney as the son left a bit to be desired in the acting sphere, but people such as Dame May Witty, Henry Travers and Henry Wilcoxon lent a great deal of character to the movie. his was clearly the high-light of the many films the two stars made together, and Garson certainly deserved her Oscar.

" There is a sadness waiting for us and it's best to face it now "

[thinker1691 · 7/10 · 13 November 2010]

In 1942 William Wyler directed this heart stirring film for the American Audience. Although it leans itself to early propaganda, it is nevertheless welcomed as a fine portrayal of Elnglish life prior to the beginning of World War II. The story is that of Mrs. Miniver (Greer Garson) a married English woman who with her husband (Walter Pidgeon) Clem and their family are a typical middle class family. Enjoying the comforts of their lifestyle, they are a typical segment who enjoy life, their family and their country. Shortly thereafter, the director takes the audience through several life-changes segments beginning with the incoming war, it's fears, it's devastation and eventual outcome which few are able avoid. The great cast which includes Teresa Wright, Dame May Witty, Reginald Owen, Henry Travers, Richard Ney and Henry Wilcoxon as the Vicar. The dramatic movie possesses all the necessary elements of a true Classic and one which it truly deserves. Easily recommended. ****

Greer Garson Soars -- She's A Warrior, A Woman, A Mother And A Saint!

[Dan1863Sickles · 9/10 · 30 September 2007]

Like many American children born after 1960, I grew up knowing Greer Garson only as the kindly old narrator on the Christmas classic, "The Little Drummer Boy." Not necessarily the best of introductions! Thanks to IMDb, however, I learned that she was once a legendary screen beauty and a major box office draw. Curious, I rented her most famous film, the wartime drama MRS. MINIVER.

What an astonishing artist Greer Garson was! Most "good" Hollywood mothers tend to be solemn, heavy-set, unappealing creatures, like Ma Joad in the GRAPES OF WRATH. Or else they're vacantly pretty but absolutely passive, like Donna Reed in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. But what's shocking in MRS. MINIVER is that Greer Garson plays the title character as a stunning series of contradictions. She's the good mother, but as seductive as any screen siren. She's brave but gentle, vain but modest, sensual but thoughtful, silly but kind. She's got courage, warmth, a sense of humor, and also quite a bit of feminine vanity about her stunning looks and quietly knowing sex appeal.

Just like GONE WITH THE WIND, this is an epic of women in wartime. But Mrs. Miniver is neither a temptress nor an angel. She's an honest woman supporting an innocent people with a just cause. Greer Garson has to combine the sweetness of Melanie Wilkes with the fire of Scarlett O'Hara -- and she pulls it off with breathtaking ease.

The movie is very daring in that it introduces Mrs. Miniver at her weakest and silliest -- gossiping with the local vicar and admiring herself in her new hat. But before long you understand why every male in the village from the train station master to the vicar to her own husband regards her with a mixture of worshipful admiration and lustful awe -- because she combines all of the traditional motherly qualities with a thoroughly bewitching and very modern feminine allure! Just about the only person in the village who isn't under her spell is the local aristocrat, a formidable old lady who can't quite make out what everyone sees in the strikingly pretty but cheerfully middle class Mrs. Miniver. By the end of the movie, though, after you've seen Mrs. Miniver stare down a sadistic Nazi pilot, comfort her sobbing children during an air raid, and even tease her adoring husband into giving her a quick, playful and provocative spanking in the bedroom, you understand why the local rose grower wants to name his most perfect flower "The Mrs. Miniver." And the dignified but lonely local aristocrat, (who wanted the rose named after her) ends up surrendering to Mrs. Miniver just like the German pilot.

The world we live in today is just as frightening and upsetting as the world these characters inhabit. But watching MRS. MINIVER you feel a terrible longing for a time when Hollywood made films like this.

When will Cate Blanchett play a woman like Mrs. Miniver?

William Wyler and War theme is a deadly combo i must say..

[SAMTHEBESTEST · 7/10 · 25 April 2020]

MRS MINIVER (1942) : Short Review -

William Wyler and War theme is a deadly combo i must say. I recently watched a film called "The Best Years Of Our Lives" Directed by William Wyler and that film was a tear jerking experience for me. Obviously it somehow led me towards Mrs Miniver which came much before like 4 years ago and now after watching the film i felt i must state that William Wyler and a film made on war effected folks is truly a deadly combo. His sense in telling these stories is just incredible. Mrs Miniver tells a struggle of the family living in England during World War 2 attack over the country but like i said the sense of storytelling makes it a totally different experience. A heart touching and moving human drama that blends emotions and situations precisely. I thought the film was named Mrs. Miniver because the story is about the woman but it actually isn't. I mean it is but it comes other way around to justify the title. Greer Garson and Teresa Wright these two ladies did overshadow the male actors in the film. They both look beautiful and gorgeous but most importantly they act from thier hearts. Walter Pidgeon and Richard Ney were fine too in the male roles. There are few scenes in the film that talks about humanity and class degradation. One that stayed with me is the Rose Competition award ceremony scene where Dame May Whitty and Henry Travers made you notice thier importance in the film. Director William Wyler handled a sensitive subject with intelligence and his command over the narrative is commendable. Mostly such films gets intensely boring and rarely entertain you but Mrs. Miniver is highly engaging, entertaining and surely a film that can be watched multiple times. 6 Oscars for Mrs. Miniver could not be argued but the climax could have been better compared to other William Wyler Classics. However, the fact cannot be denied that the film was quintessential among all the contemporaries then.

Rating- 7/10*

By - #samthebestest

Enough to melt your teeth....

[MOscarbradley · 4/10 · 23 October 2018]

There's no denying that this tub-thumping piece of jingoism is reasonably entertaining for what it is and that it's very well made, (you expect nothing less from Wyler), and pleasingly acted, (Garson and Wright won Oscars and Pidgeon, Whitty and Henry Travers were all nominated though it was really Whitty who should have won), but it's so patronisingly middle-class it is almost offensive. It's supposed to be about a 'typical' middle-class British family at the beginning of and during the early years of the Second World War but this is Hollywood's idea of England and the Minivers are about as close to real-life as the inhabitants of "Downton Abbey" or even Neverland, (the 'typical' Minivers are so middle-class they have their own servants), and at well over two hours all this sweetness and light, with a little sentimental tragedy thrown in, is enough to melt your teeth. Amazingly it won six Oscars including Best Picture, was a huge hit and is much loved by many though not by me.