Mrs. Miniver (1942)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Mrs. Miniver (1942) – W. Wyler

Melodrama-cum-propaganda piece created by Hollywood but purporting to show the British coping with the onset of World War II.  Wyler was already a masterful director (The Letter, Wuthering Heights, and Jezebel were under his belt with The Best Years of Our Lives, Roman Holiday, and more yet to come). He controls the action well and allows Greer Garson to take an affectionate star turn as the title character, a mum coping with a war that sees her son off to the RAF and her husband (Walter Pidgeon) contributing as a civilian at Dunkirk (not to mention her house and community bombed).  However, this is a fantasyland England where everyone bonds together and gets on with it; Garson’s family is significantly well off (with a maid) – moreover, they simply shrug off the hardships (less “stiff upper lip” and more impossible cheerfulness) until they really can’t.  But as I said this is melodrama and the major subplots involve a romance between the Minivers’ son Vin (Richard Ney) and the granddaughter (Teresa Wright) of the local aristocrat (played curmudgeonly by Dame May Whitty) as well as a flower competition that sees humble Henry Travers taking on Whitty.  Still, there were some tear-jerking moments and the rousing rallying cry, though undercut by the failure to depict the brutality of war in real terms, still comes through.  This won six Oscars (including for Garson, Wright, Wyler, and best picture) after being nominated for 12.