Mrs. Miniver [Blu-ray]

Director: William Wyler

Overview

As Academy Award-winning films go, Mrs. Miniver has not weathered the years all that well. This prettified, idealized view of the upper-class British home front during World War II sometimes seems over-calculated and contrived when seen today. In particular, Greer Garson's Oscar-winning performance in the title role often comes off as artificial, especially when she nobly tends her rose garden while her stalwart husband (Walter Pidgeon) participates in the evacuation at Dunkirk. However, even if the film has lost a good portion of its ability to move and inspire audiences, it is easy to see why it was so popular in 1942-and why Winston Churchill was moved to comment that its propaganda value was worth a dozen battleships. Everyone in the audience-even English audiences, closer to the events depicted in the film than American filmgoers-liked to believe that he or she was capable of behaving with as much grace under pressure as the Miniver family. The film's setpieces-the Minivers huddling in their bomb shelter during a Luftwaffe attack, Mrs. Miniver confronting a downed Nazi paratrooper in her kitchen, an annual flower show being staged despite the exigencies of bombing raids, cleric Henry Wilcoxon's climactic call to arms from the pulpit of his ruined church-are masterfully staged and acted, allowing one to ever so briefly forget that this is, after all, slick propagandizing. In addition to Best Picture and Best Actress, Mrs. Miniver garnered Oscars for best supporting actress (Teresa Wright), best director (William Wyler), best script (Arthur Wimperis, George Froschel, James Hilton, Claudine West), best cinematography (Joseph Ruttenberg) and best producer (Sidney Franklin). Sidebar: Richard Ney, who plays Greer Garson's son, later married the actress-and still later became a successful Wall Street financier. Mrs. Miniver was followed by a 1951 sequel, The Miniver Story, but without the wartime setting the bloom was off the rose.

Product Details

Release Date:	01/08/2013
UPC:	0883929264032
Original Release:	1942
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Home Video
Presentation:	[B&W, Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	2:13:00
Sales rank:	4,871

Special Features

1942 Academy Awarss newsreel; Vintage cartoon Blitz Wolf; Two world war II-era shorts: Mr. Blabbermouth! and For the Common Defense; Theatrical trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Greer Garson	Kay Miniver
Walter Pidgeon	Clem Miniver
Teresa Wright	Carol Beldon Miniver
Richard Ney	Vin Miniver
May Whitty	Lady Beldon
Henry Travers	Mr. Ballard
Reginald Owen	Foley
Henry Wilcoxon	Vicar
Clare Sandars	Judy Miniver
Christopher Severn	Toby Miniver
Brenda Forbes	Gladys, the Housemaid
Rhys Williams	Horace Perkins,Glee Club Member
Marie de Becker	Ada, the Cook
Helmut Dantine	German Flier
Mary Field	Miss Spriggins
Tom Conway	Man
Paul Scardon	Nobby
Ben Webster	Ginger
Aubrey Mather	George, the Innkeeper
Forrester Harvey	Huggins
John Abbott	Fred, the Porter
Connie Leon	Simpson, the Maid
Billy Bevan	Conductor
Florence Wix	Woman With Dog
Bobby Hale	Old Man
Alice Monk	Lady Passenger
Ottola Nesmith	Saleslady
Douglas Gordon	Porter
Gerald Oliver Smith	Car Dealer
Alec Craig	Joe
Clara Reid	Mrs. Huggins
Harry Allen	William
Leslie Vincent	Dancing Partner
John Burton	Halliday
Leonard Carey	Haldon's Butler
Eric Lonsdale	Marston
Guy Bellis	Barman
Charles Irwin	Mac
Ian Wolfe	Dentist
David Thursby	Farmer
Charles Bennett	Milkman
Arthur Wimperis	Sir Henry
David Clyde	Carruthers
Colin Campbell	Bickles
Herbert Clifton	Doctor
Leslie Francis	Doctor
David Dunbar	Man in Store
Art Berry Sr.	Man in Store
Sidney D'Albrook	Man in Store
Gene Byram	Glee Club Member
Virginia Bassett	Glee Club Member
Aileen Carlyle	Glee Club Member
Irene Denny	Glee Club Member
Herbert Evans	Glee Club Member
Eula Morgan	Glee Club Member
Vernon Steele	Glee Club Member,Glee Club Member
Marek Windheim	Glee Club Member
Kitty Watson	Contestant
Hugh Greenwood	Contestant
Sybil Bacon	Contestant
Flo Benson	Contestant
Harold Howard	Judge
Billy Engle	Townsman
Louise Bates	Miniver Guest,Miniver Guest
Edward Cooper	Waiter
Walter Byron	Man in Tavern
Ted Billings	Man in Tavern
Dan Maxwell	Man in Tavern
Frank Atkinson	Man in Tavern
Henry King	Man in Tavern
Gil Perkins	Man in Tavern
John Power	Man in Tavern
Thomas Louden	Mr. Verger
Peter Lawford	Pilot
Stanley Mann	Workman
Leslie Sketchley	Policeman
Emerson Fisher-Smith	Policeman
Frank Baker	Policeman
Colin Kenny	Policeman
St. Luke's Choristers	Chorus
Thomas Lockyear	Mr. Verger
Miles Mander	German Agent
Herbert Stothart	Composer

Technical Credits

Arthur Wimperis

Claudine West

George Froeschel

James Hilton

Arthur Wimperis	Screenwriter
Claudine West	Screenwriter
George Froeschel	Screenwriter
Sidney Franklin	Producer
Warren Newcombe	Special Effects
A. Arnold Gillespie	Special Effects
Douglas Shearer	Sound Effects
James Hilton	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Mrs. Miniver was a World War II propaganda film that, early in the war, helped build and sustain public support for the United States' involvement in Europe. Parts of it may now seem forced and artificial, particularly Greer Garson's Oscar-winning performance. Garson's Oscar win and lengthy acceptance speech became a long-running joke in Hollywood -- for example, the claims that she stayed at the podium for 45 minutes or more. (Her actual acceptance remarks took around 5 minutes, still the longest-ever Oscar acceptance speech.) The film contains the sort of elements that you would expect it to contain. Garson is the strong-willed British homemaker who refuses to allow Nazi bombs to ruin her roses. She is noble and brave and self-sacrificing and all those things that a government asks its people to be in times of war. The film is constructed so smoothly that it's easy to overlook its craft. Hollywood did its part for the war effort and honored Mrs. Miniver with six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director (William Wyler). As soon as WWII was over, Wyler would direct The Best Years of Our Lives, the era's most insightful movie about the hardships that war brings to families.