Mrs. Miniver

Not of exceptional caliber?! Only a Nazi would say that!

Year: 1942
Genre: Drama
Director: William Wyler
Stars: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Teresa Wright, Dame May Whitty, Reginald Owen, henry Travers, Richard Ney, Henry Wilcoxon, Christopher Severn, Clare Sanders, John Abbott
Production:

It’s hard to believe that out of the Academy Award’s eighty five year existence, there have only been a handful of Best Picture winners I would consider truly grand and worth anyone’s time. True few have been of decidedly crappy quality, but fewer still I would peg as a must see that will change your life for the better. Mrs. Miniver (1942) is decidedly not a movie of exceptional caliber.

Mrs. Miniver is an American film about a middle class British family who is faced with the grim realities of WWII. Greer Garson plays the title role with the esteemed Walter Pidgeon fudds-his-duddy as the family patriarch. They are fairly happy in marriage and have managed to crank out three kids, the oldest just returning from Oxford. As the film progresses the family has to face German spies, German bombing and British nobility faking nobility.

Stiff upper lip chaps, stiff upper lip

Released in the midst of WWII, William Wyler’s family war drama has the telling sense of war weariness of a movie trying to rally people for war. Did I mention there’s a war going on? It’s a propaganda film through and through, with the family a microcosm of British unity and resolve. At least Henry V (1944) had the good graces to take place in another war to rally English troops for modern warfare. Similarly Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s 49^th Parallel (1941) largely took the perspective of a squadron of Nazis to insert its

...And the prize goes to...London pensioners!

Union Jack pride. Now I’m not saying patriotism is a bad thing, especially when it’s sorely needed in a time of life-or-death struggle. But despite British actors, the film I feel rings hollow coming from an American Studio for contemporary audiences.

Of course Mrs. Miniver was a Best Picture winner for a reason, and that reason isn't limited to pride. The film is occasionally nice to look at. William Wyler’s direction is confident and top-notch as always and being an American production shot in California, the dialogue is earnest and free of an abundance of Britishisms like a romance shrouded in social protocol or villains explaining their plans for the sake of gentlemanly fair play. The scenes taking place among ruined countryside and masonry is arguably some of the best set designs of the period. Furthermore Garson’s Miniver is a solid foundation for the other performances to ground themselves.

So you're saying this crap has happened before?

Mrs. Miniver ultimately reminds me of The King’s Speech (2010) in its grandeur. The King’s Speech is a great movie but did it really deserve to beat out The Social Network (2010) or Toy Story 3 (2010) for the coveted golden statuette? Well there’s an argument to be made but Mrs. Miniver went up against 49^th Parallel, Pride of the Yankees (1942) and Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942). Watch them all then tell me which you remember more.