Mrs. Miniver (1942)
Director: William Wyler
Starring: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon
Honors:
Academy Award for Best Screenplay
Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Black and White)
As war took over the headlines in American in 1942 director
William Wyler brought the conflicts effects as close as possible to the homes
of his audience in his motion picture Mrs.
Miniver. The picture would bring American audiences as close as it could in
a dramatic fashion the realizations that war was to heavily effect everyone’s’
lives, as the film was intended to be a rallying cry for those whose all freedom
loving citizens to powwr through was was surely going to be a harsh war. A
touching melodrama, Mrs. Miniver
would go on to hit an emotional core with audiences and be honored as one of
the most acclaimed pictures for the year.
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| Henry Travers plays a supporting role as a Station Master that names a rose after Mrs. Miniver. |
Mrs. Miniver is a
drama about the effects of World War II on middle class British family from the
point of view of an unassuming housewife. Kay Miniver (Greer Garson) appears to
have a perfect middle class life with her loving husband Clem (Walter Pidgeon),
her children, including her college aged son Vin (Richard Ney), and Vin’s new
bride Carol (Teresa Wright). However the war initiates effects on the community
and the family as Vin joins the Royal Air Force, Clem takes part in the
evacuation of Dunkirk (based on an actual event), Kay has a run in with a parachuted
German soldier found in her garden, an air raid destroying much of the beloved
home and community, and the tragic loss of Carol as a slain bystander to an
stray bullet. The family is down, but not out as the film preaches a sense that
we all must fight on as citizens, never letting fear change their freedom
loving ways of life.
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| A dramatic scene with Mrs. Miniver encountering a German soldier. |
The film is a wonderful slice of melodrama out of the period
in history where people’s lives were drastically being altered from a time of peace
to being thrusted into the conflict of World War II. The picture introduces the
Miniver family and its ancillary characters in an idealistic town in England
where people lived their lives in happiness almost as carefree and easy as a
1950s sitcom set in suburbia. Mr. and Mrs. Miniver are loving parents whose
biggest worries are whether or not to splurge on a car by Mr. Miniver or new fashionable
hat for Mrs. Miniver. Vin is the ideal college student who visits his folks from being away at at the
university and now with his new found sense of wisdom is more open to debate
sociology and politics in the foolishly wise minor only a college freshman
would have. However this all drastically turns around with the onslaught of air
raids and news of advancing enemies within the English boarders.
Wyler styles his characters as down to earth and as real as
possible to make an emotional connection with the audiences. The town ladies gossips,
some citizens worry about this or that more than others, and local events are
the social centers of calendar. The Minivers attempt to live on as if nothing
has changed since the country had joined the war, but soon people they know
begin to leave for the army, then Vin joins the Air Force, and all of a sudden
the war is very real. What seemed once so far away starts to affect the small
rural town directly as air raid sirens warn of approaching bombers and Clem is
called upon in the middle of the night to help in a major evacuation for the
war effort. For something that was taking place a half a world away this motion
picture was presenting these types of effects to audiences in America in a very
effective way.
For director William Wyler Mrs. Miniver was a project dear to his heart as Wyler was
passionate to getting across a message to help in the war effort. A German born
filmmaker who had long left his home country and felt strongly against the Nazi
regime, Wyler looked to make this film as a way to fight against Germany’s
tyranny. After production William Wyler would join the United States Army Air
Force and help to produce war time documentaries about the Air Force including
the filming through some dangerous missions.
Pre-production for Mrs.
Miniver began when America was a neutral nation attempting to stay out of
the conflict, but as war grew closer and Americans began to back their English allies
the script for the picture became a bit darker, namely the stronger stance
against the German in the film and the stirring speech at the film’s
conclusion. By the time the film was to be released Pearl Harbor was attacked
and Americans were signing up for the war effort left and right and this
picture would speak more directly to the audience than it would have if it
premiered the year prior.
With the emotional effects on the audiences high praise was
showered on the film’s cast. Mrs. Miniver
had nominations in every acting category at that year’s Academy Award ceremony,
a first in the industry’s history. Walter Pidgeon played the loving father
figure that was strong and resourceful while Richard Ney assumes the role of
his son, the college educated Vin how grows up quickly in the sight of war.
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| Oscar winner Teresa Wright with her screen husband Richard Ney. |
The two actresses that took home Academy honors were Greer
Garson in the titular role with whom the audiences follows through the
tragedies, and Teresa Wright as Vin’s wife Carol who is a causality in from
stray shots from an air battle, the climax of the third act of the feature.
Wright’s story as a Hollywood actress would be unprecedented as in her first
three pictures she would receive three Academy Award nominations. Here she won
the award competing against Dame May Whitty, playing Wright’s wealthy
grandmother and town socialite. At the same time Wright was winning her academy
Award for Best Suppoirting Actress she lost to Garson for Best Actress this
same year for Wright’s performance in The Pride
of the Yankees as Lou Gerhig’s (Gary Cooper) wife. Teresa Wright was a peek
in her career at a very young age and fresh in Hollywood.
For MGM Mrs. Miniver
was a major success at the box office. As the film was not expected to be a
major hit the studio was delightfully surprised when the film brought in
millions of dollars at a time when the industry was expecting a falloff in
profits. That year’s award season manifested how impactful the picture was on
critics as the film was up for an extraordinary twelve award nominations,
including all major six that tend to grab the most attention for those that
follow the awards. The film walked away from the ceremony with six statues
which included apart from the before mentioned actresses wins for Best
Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and the biggest prize, Best
Picture.
The film did a great deal in building the moral of audiences
with the closing title card for the picture urging viewers to invest in war
bonds. Aside from that the feature also built emotion support in the hearts of
those now living in a world of war. In the years following the picture William
Wyler, himself having experiences war first hand, looked back on the film with
fondness, but would also sense that he was too light on the horrors of war and
its effects on the towns and cities. He realized that war was much more unforgiving
and wished he could have less sugar-coated the ideas of how composed it was for
the Minivers to jump back into living after such harsh tragedies.
In 1950 movie audiences would be able to catch up on the
Miniver family in a sequel entitled The
Miniver Story, with Walter Pidgeon and Greer Garson reprising their roles.
The film would pick up with the family following World War II, including the
moments of VE Day, with a plot surrounding the story of their daughter. The
picture would fail to recuperate the budget of production as the film lacked
the connection with post-war audiences.
A bit of gossip would arise from the result of production of
Mrs. Miniver as star Greer Garson and
supporting actor Richard Ney, who played her son in the film, would marry shortly
after production in 1943. Ney was twelve year Garson’s junior and their
marriage would make for a silly story in some Hollywood gossip circles. However
the nuptial would not last long as the short marriage would last only until
1947. When the subsequent sequel film was produced no mention was made of the
Vin character at all, which might be perhaps to the credit of the Ney and
Garson’s recent divorce.
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| The dramatic stirring words delivered at the films close in church after an air raid. |
In review of Mrs.
Miniver the film is very entertaining and gripping with a wonderfully
written script and a brilliantly assembled plot that would have brought the
tragedy of war closer to American audiences who felt themselves far from harm. According
to its numbers it is obvious that the film reached a large movie going audience
and left critics feeling that it was one of the best films of 1942. The film
encapsulates an enjoyable look back on this period, I believe presenting how
little differences some aspects of living are between then and contemporary
days with its well-rounded characters. What it does best is manifest how things
we take for granted can be ripped away from us so very quickly while sharing a
story that we as freedom loving citizens must continue to fight on a the face
of hardship from enemies, making our voices heard about not being pushed around
by oppressive foreign forces.
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