Mrs. Miniver

Mrs. Miniver is one of my Grandmothers favorite movies to win Best Picture and its the first Best Picture winner about WWII. The movie tells the story of a women (Mrs.Miniver of course) and her family as cope with the beginning parts of WWII in England. The movie is told from her point of view and how she tries to keep her family together during this difficult time. Her son, Vin joins the Royal Air Force and her husband patrols the waters in his boat which leaves her home alone with her two younger children. While the story centers on the story of her family it also
shows her interaction with the other townsfolk and how they all must change.

What I like about the movie is that it portrays an ordinary family dealing with extraordinary situations. For the most part the acting is great. Greer Garson as Mrs. Miniver and Walter Pidgeon as Mr. Miniver do a great job of showing the roller coaster of emotions. Teresa Wright as the fiance of Vin Miniver is very good as well and is one of the stand out performances in the movie. Too bad the same cant be said about Richard Ney as Vin. His performance very one dimensional and over the top. He just doesn't have the depth of emotion that the others have. The other problem with Richard Ney is that he is only 12 years younger then Greer Garson and its hard to believe that he is her grown son. Guess that's saying a lot about Greer that she doesn't look old but they could have done something with make-up to at least make it look like she could be a mother of a grown son. And a weird fact afterward Greer and Richard got married after the movie filmed. I find that a little disturbing for some reason.

Some consider this a propaganda film. That it really resonated with Americans because it showed what might happen if they didn't fight in the war. And I guess from that perspective it is true. The message at the end is if you want to keep your way of life then you need to fight the Germans. The final line of the movie is the vicar saying "This is the people's war! It is our war! We are the fighters. Fight it then. Fight it with all that is in us. And may God defend the right" Watching it now almost 70 years later except for the last line it doesn't really feel like propaganda and more as a look at how war affects a family. I guess that is a true testament to a good film That it has multiple ways of being interpreted and can stay relevant after 70 years.

Other notes of interest.
It was the first movie to be nominated for 5 acting awards. Won 2. Greer Garson for Best Actress, and Teresa Wright as Best Supporting Actress
William Wyler won his first Best Director Oscar. He was nominated 4 previous times and has the most nominations for any director with a total of 12 with 3 wins.
Greer Garson gave the longest acceptance speech in Oscar history she rambled on fort 5 1/2 minutes.