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It must be over 50 years since I first saw this classic film, and for some reason I never watched it again until recently. To do so was an interesting experience - reliving many memories of the war years which I mostly spent in London. I think the reason why there was such a long interval before I decided to watch it again was a subconscious recognition that it was produced at a time of crisis, largely for political reasons, and a feeling this was unduly evident in the screenplay. Mrs. Miniver was released a few months after Pearl Harbour, at a time when many U.S. citizens wondered why their country should be expending its efforts fighting in Europe when it was Japan which had attacked them The film was quite clearly written, produced and directed with the objective of answering this question. Winston Churchill has made it clear that he regarded the release of this film as one of the biggest single contributions made to the allied war effort (worth, in his words, "a flotilla of destroyers"), and it is hard today not to regard the film as primarily a piece of patriotic propaganda. However the deft and capable direction of William Wyler and the almost uniformly great acting by the cast, particularly Greer Garson as Mrs. Miniver, go a very long way towards concealing the fact that one is viewing a film with a message and few would deny that the Oscars it won were thoroughly deserved. Mrs. Miniver certainly earns its place on any short list of film classics.

There are of course already many comments on this film in the database, I would have been reluctant to add any more but for the realization that people of my age who lived in England during the war are becoming increasingly few, and our comments - which must have a rather different perspective to those of younger generations - will not continue to be available for very much longer. Many of the very fine sequences in this film have already been reviewed more than adequately by others and I will not comment further on them; but two sequences which I found particularly evocative were the call on amateur sailors to help evacuate the British army from Dieppe, and the pub scene where the locals were listening to the British traitor Lord Haw Haw broadcasting from Germany and telling his listeners how futile any further resistance would be. In stating this, I am simply confirming that for such documentary type films people who lived through the events depicted will assess the film on the basis of their personal memories rather than on their cinematographic quality.

Ultimately, both on its first viewing and when viewing it again a few days ago, I found that for me watching Mrs. Miniver was irritating because it inevitably showed an American view of life as it was in England. Numerous very small points indicated that we were seeing a glimpse of middle class English life through American eyes. Whilst as an English born viewer I found this irritating, it did not in any way detract from the primary purpose of the film in showing Americans what life in wartime Britain was really like, and why their involvement in the war in Europe was so vital. Ultimately I had to accept that this was a great film which well deserves its classic status.

One unnoticed talent in the picture was Christopher Severn playing the part of Toby Miniver, the Miniver's youngest child. Child actors are often cast strictly for their appearance and their performances frequently leave much to be desired. However, Christopher, playing at such a young age, gives an absolutely delightful performance that is also refreshingly professional. His timing is excellent, his dialogue is on the button, and he hits all his marks. He far outshines his other child co-star. He contributed to every scene he was in. Ironically, the rest of his short career was spent in oblivion, not even receiving screen credit in some of his roles.

The rest of the picture is very good. The sappy violin music through much of the picture could be toned down. But the picture as a whole is far less sappy than many other propaganda pictures of the day and much more believable. Callous modern audiences, hardened by the deadening sex and violence constantly doled out on today's screen, may find some of its conventions amusing. But it stands the test of time and is still a very watchable picture.

There is no doubt that this film was released at a time when Britain most needed it - a tribute to the ordinary Englishman in time of war...Certainly it went right over the top in many ways, but lifted the spirits and raised patriotism to a remarkable level, when things were looking very dire for England. The cast was superb, with Greer Garson in the title role, supported wonderfully well by Walter Pidgeon and Teresa Wright. Richard Ney as the son left a bit to be desired in the acting sphere, but people such as Dame May Witty, Henry Travers and Henry Wilcoxon lent a great deal of character to the movie. his was clearly the high-light of the many films the two stars made together, and Garson certainly deserved her Oscar.

This is a very capable and competent film with a wonderful cast and direction. Greer Garson is absolutely captivating as the title character and it was probably her best film--so it's not surprising she received an Oscar for her performance. The movie also made many nice supporting performances and was just lovely to watch. The problem, though, is this little film was elevated to greatness by WWII and received an Oscar for Best Picture that it probably did not deserve, though I must admit that the 1943 award nominees weren't very distinguished compared to other years just before this. If the movie had been made either before of a few years after the war, it probably would never have received the Oscar for Best Picture. It probably won because of the times--it came out in 1942 (just after the USA joined the war) and it was a very effective piece of propaganda--and very good propaganda at that. So in essence, a vote for this picture was like a vote for the war effort. I assume that viewers in 1942 were captivated by the movie and based on sentiment at the time, it may have been the odds on favorite to win. It's just that taken from this context the film just doesn't hold up as well and seems, on occasion, a little heavy-handed. Still a decent film but a disappointment to many who will be expecting more.

William Wyler, one of the great directors of the American cinema, had the perfect team when he decided to make this film. Mr. Wyler was in a class by himself. He has given the movie going public pictures such as this one that will live forever, as new audiences discover them through cable and late shows on television.

The film, a product of Hollywood in the 40s, has an underside that is done very subtly when it takes the cause for going to war into the noble and just cause that the American public believed it to be. Therefore, we are shown the valor, the idea of a better world and victory for the just, as a matter of course.

Kay Miniver is a charming woman living in the country, not too far from London, where we see her go shopping. As the story unfolds, she is on her way back home. She is seated in the same carriage with the local aristocrat, Lady Beldon, who is a stereotype of that class. Mrs. Miniver doesn't have a mean bone in her body. She accepts with grace the proposal of the station master to have one of his roses named after her, and horror of horrors, he will compete head to head with Lady Beldon, who wins every year.

The life of the Minivers will change dramatically as the oldest son, Vin is called into war action. He loves Carol Beldon, a young woman out of his social class. The war makes it possible for them to marry. Lady Beldon learns to accept people that are beneath her conservative way of life, something that would have seemed impossible in normal times. Of course, these are things that only happen in films. Alas, in the real world, the Minivers would probably had no chance in mingling in an aristocratic world where class mattered more than anything else.

As Mrs. Miniver, Greer Garson brings her radiance to the screen. She had a way to make her presence be felt over the other actors when she appears. Walter Pidgeon plays the husband, Clem, but he has little to do otherwise. Lady May Whitty, is a delight as Lady Beldon, as is Teresa Wright, with her youth and beauty. Henry Travers, Richard Ney and Brenda Forbes also add their imprint to the film.

William Wyler's 1942 film "Mrs. Miniver" tells the story of a mother, Kay Miniver (Greer Garson) who is trying to hold her family together during World War II in England. Her husband Clem (Walter Pigeon) is part of the patrol in their small village, their son Vin (Richard Ney) is fresh from college and now in the Royal Air Force, after marrying Carol (Teresa Wright). Two more small children, Toby and Judy round out the Miniver family, who finds that they go from relative upper-middle class comfort to watching helplessly as their village is destroyed around them. All the while, Kay Miniver remains a bastion of strength, despite her own fears and discomfort.

"Mrs. Miniver" became very popular during the war because it was a very realistic depiction of what civilians had to deal with in England during WWII. It is hard to imagine dealing with night raids and bombing when we have not fought a war on American soil since the 1800's, but while watching the film's frightening war scenes, I tried to imagine the courage that must have been necessary to survive. I have of course thought about these things to some extent, but it is ironic that a William Wyler melodrama was the film to really put all of it into perspective, not the big budget war films of the last sixty years. This is truly a testimony to the greatness of the film and its actors.

Greer Garson is luminous and superb. She always seems to play very wise, strong women (see "Pride & Prejudice"). While the title of the film is "Mrs. Miniver", it is centered on family, however. From the fabulous chemistry between Garson and Pigeon, (you REALLY believe that they are happily married) to the natural on-screen relationship with the children in the film (particularly the small ones), theirs is truly a delightful family. As for Mrs. Miniver herself, she is such a good person that pretty much everything around her becomes more positive with her involvement. From the beautiful rose named in her honor in the beginning of the film, to the denouement when the family home is half destroyed, Miniver is a pillar of strength, and most importantly, dignity. There are no histrionics or cheesy performances in this film, least of all by Garson.

"Mrs. Miniver" has many ups and downs, and it certainly does not end on an uplifting note, but while it is a tear-jerker, "Mrs. Miniver" is so well made that its subtleties make the film even more effective. There will be a scene where a mass is being performed in a church that is almost completely destroyed in order to show that most everything in their little village has been destroyed in one way or another. The fact that this church was, in earlier scenes, a place for courting, and the place where two of the characters get married is not even pointed out. Instead of saying "Look at me, this is a melodramatic and sad moment", Wyler chooses to let us come to that conclusion on our own. These are just a couple of reasons I would recommend "Mrs. Miniver" without any reservations, and only a couple of the reasons why I give this film a very solid 8/10.

--Shelly

To see William Wyler's Mrs. Miniver for the first time in 2023 reminds me, in case I had doubts, about what a great filmmaker he was. He made the movie explicitly as a propaganda film to help stir America away from isolationism and towards support for those facing the Nazi onslaught from his native Germany. Yet it is done beautifully, humanly and subtly, and the family drama plays very well today. Mrs. Miniver and Casablanca are two powerful examples of great filmmaking and great storytelling in which their art is not sacrificed for their political goals. The calm pace of the film is one of its great strengths, as we are always given time to focus on the characters and feel as though we are there, living with them in the daily lives. Three fine actresses, Greer Garson, Theresa Wright and Dame May Whitty are the protagonists, another brilliant storyline touch to make the film feel intimate and broaden its appeal.

"Mrs. Miniver" was intended to increase American support for the war. As the BBC tells us today even Goebbels was impressed. That said, an obvious example of what is known as atrocity propaganda was presented in the film as fact and should be addressed. The downed German flyer (played by anti-Nazi Austrian émigré Helmut Dantine) boasts of killing "30,000 in two hours" in the bombing of Rotterdam. In reality this was what Churchill claimed - and not something any downed German airman would likely boast about had it actually happened.. The actual toll is estimated to be 1,000 killed due mostly to fire that spread out of control. It's also notable that Goebbels, who was impressed by the film and supposedly "feared" its effects (if the BBC is correct)- gets criticized today for his promotion of "total war" which he indeed made a very famous speech about. The last scene in the film has the townspeople assembled in their bombed-out church and their vicar delivers a "sermon" that is all about how this is no ordinary war. He asks rhetorically why "children, old people, a young girl at the height of her loveliness" have been "sacrificed" in the war. His answer is that "this is a war of the people, of all the people and it must be fought not only on the battlefield but in the cities and in the villages and on the farms, in the home, and in the heart of every man, woman and child who loves freedom." "Mrs. Miniver", released in the US just a few days after the British had made the first "1,000-bomber raid" on a German city promoted "total war" to British - and American- audiences half a year before Goebbels promoted that same mindset to the German people.

Charming movie which must have inspired many when first released in the middle of World War 11

Excellent female lead in Greer Garson and nice support from the lovely Teresa Wright

Even if I was involved in the World War II on the side against the UK I would still love this film. Everything about it is uplifting and certainly helped people of the UK feel better after watching it. Especially because it was released in the 1942 when war was certainly not won yet.

Everything about this film is excellent, acting, plot, cinematography. Simply it is just a fantastic piece of propaganda! If you are a student of film making this is a must see for you, but if you are feeling like spending a rainy afternoon with a cup of an English tea in your hand, then you should watch this film. It will make your afternoon worthwhile.

Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon star in this dramatic re-enactment of the early years of the WW 2, when England was being bombed almost on a daily basis by the Nazis. The film highlights the resiliency and determination of the British under the most severe of circumstances. Neither bombs nor loss of loved ones, deterred them from completing the final victory over tyranny with the aid of the United States two years after the war started.

These types of WW 2 films are always more authentic than most WW 2 films made several years after the war ended. This one was made right in the middle of the war itself, and so it has that palatable taste of realism. Teresa Wright makes a major debut in this film that launched her career for a decade afterward. Her role as a war bride won her the Oscar she so richly deserved for Best Supporting Actress. If you want to get the feel of what it was like in England from 1939 to 1942, then this film should be your cup of tea. Don't miss it.

I know that Greer Garson was incapable of giving a poor performance, as her seven Academy Award nominations make evident, but her Mrs. Miniver, living out peace and war with dreams of peace in, as a friend calls it, "the typical English village of Rancho Cucamonga-on-Stokes" is among the best: always charming, always thinking of others. The sequence that begins in her home with Helmut Dantine, has her watching him with his gun, not afraid for herself, is beautifully written, and directed by William Wyler as a series of revelations, when youngest child Christopher Severn comes into the room, and when Walter Pidgeon comes back from Dunkirk. She has such a way of looking at the camera.

Given MGM's leisurely production schedules, it's hard to imagine that this was not in planning well before the United State entered the War.

World War II from the middle-class Brits' perspective. We join a hard-working family, share their modest concerns just before the onset of hostilities, then stand by as their priorities drastically shift. In one moment, lavish expenses, exclusive flower shows and snooty neighbors comprise the extent of their worries. In the next, ears are tuned for air raid sirens, an eldest son races to join the RAF and a desperate Nazi paratrooper appears in the garden.

Mrs. Miniver was indeed propaganda, boosting the Allied cause while the wounds of the Nazis' blitz on London were still fresh, but it's far more subtle than the loud, whitewashed, nationalistic newsreels that usually represent that term. Here, we identify with the squabbles of pre-war life, feel the conflicted emotions of standing up for one's beliefs at great personal risk, linger on the dark terror of a quaking single-family bomb shelter at bedtime. Those latter moments seem to stretch forever; a powerful blend of whimpering children and brave-faced parents that squeezes every last drop of empathy from a very ripe scenario. The Minivers are little more than pawns in this global game, but because the first act is so effectively disarming, it's easy to feel trapped, unprepared, in that bunker right beside them. We fear the worst for their son, who routinely alerts family to his safety by cutting engines during household fly-overs, but this war is no distant specter. By the famously rousing final soliloquy, recited amidst the ruins of a bombed-out chapel, every single member of the community has paid tolls in one form or another.

Critically beloved, Mrs. Miniver took home six Academy Awards (including best picture and best director) and was almost immediately adapted to radio for broader dissemination. Even Joseph Goebbels, the infamous Nazi propaganda minister, held it up as a prime example of the kind of cinema he wanted to create with the German media machine.

A classic war story that tells the tale of one family living in an English village as it descends from a peaceful, idyllic existence into the depths of WWII. Greer Garson is the titular character and Walter Pidgeon is her husband. The radiant Theresa Wright plays a village girl for whom the Miniver's grown son (Richard Ney, who later married Garson) falls. While the film was obviously shot on studio backlots, it feels pretty real, especially a bomb shelter sequence near the end. Director William Wylerm, who would goon toe make "The Best Years of Our Lives," must have employed half of Hollywood's English-born actors in supporting roles. The irrepressible Dame May Witty is the village's closest thing to royalty, and acts every bit of it. Watch for the actor who went on to play Clarence the Angel in "It's a Wonderful Life." He is the village postman in this. Unfortunately, the mannered acting of the period and B&W production will find no followers among the cineplex crowd.

An Oscar winning performance by Greer Garson highlights this 1942 classic of a British family caught up in the Nazi bombings of England during World War 11.

While each member of the family is looked at, the center of attention is always focused on Mrs. Miniver.

We see the annual Garden contest as English people tried their best to lead normal lives under adverse conditions.

Richard Ney, who would marry Miss Garson after the film was made, plays her son in this film. Talk about original casting!

Walter Pigeon, Garson's co-star in so many films, is excellent as her husband.

The scene of the bombing while the family is in the house made bomb shelter is realistic and chilling at best.

The killing of the Miniver daughter-in-law, played by Teresa Wright, who won for best supporting actress, leaves a void in all our hearts. As memorable as this was, Wright should not have won. Her grandmother, played by the veteran actress Dame May Witty, pulled out all the stops as the grief stricken grandma, and was deservedly nominated for it. (Of course, this was the same year that should have won Gladys Cooper the Oscar for her brilliant performance in "Now,Voyager." Imagine, Agnes Moorehead was not exactly chopped liver in "The Magnicent Ambersons" either.)

An excellent effort of a film showing the strength of the British people at a time of crisis. Memorable to generations of viewers. As the pastor, Henry Wilcoxon delivered a tremendous speech in church explaining that this was a people's war. It was interesting to learn that FDR loved the film and played Wilcoxon's speech on radio to the troops and others.

This terrific film about perseverance and courage helped rally U.S. support for our British allies in World War II. The first film to receive five acting nominations, winning two (one for Lead Actress Greer Garson and one for the comely Teresa Wright, Supporting Actress) and also earned William Wyler his first (out of three) Best Director Oscar. His other two were earned directing the Best Pictures in 1946 and 1959. Walter Pidgeon (Best Actor nominated) was also in the previous year's BP winner. Henry Travers (his only Oscar recognition) and Dame May Witty were the other Supporting nominees. The film also won for B&W Cinematography and Screenplay Writing, and received three other nominations for a grand total of twelve! #40 on AFI's 100 Most Inspiring Movies list. Added to the National Film Registry in 2009.

The film is set in England, early in WW II, as the country is trying to survive regular bombings by Germany, rationing, and other hardships. These realities are told through the Minivers, and others. Mr. & Mrs. Miniver (Pidgeon & Garson) have three children. Their eldest son (Richard Bey) meets and later marries Carol Beldon (Wright), who's the daughter of Lady Beldon (Whitty), a breeder of roses. Travers, Reginald Owen, among others provide support as the British strive to keep their stiff upper lips during these difficult times and tragedy.

The first inductee of William Wyler's Oscar BEST PICTURE triumvirate, MRS. MINIVER is an undisguised propaganda weepy that emphatically packs a punch what that particular time needs, in 1942 when our world was enveloped under the pall of WWII, and the United States freshly took a hard blow from the Pearl Harbor attack.

A burgher family living in the suburb of London, Clem Miniver (an agreeable Pidgeon as ever) is a successful architect, he and his wife Kay (Garson) has three children, a snug domicile and the film opens with the couple respectively splurging out on luxury items, darting back to the millinery for a with-it headwear or spoiling for a new automobile, and the day is rounded out by a mutual reconciliation that perfectly explains the allure of middle-class content, which significantly pales in comparison with what will soon ensue. The next day, their eldest son Vincent (a spiffy Richard Ney, whose acting days would be put paid to by the disintegration of the marriage with his screen-mother Ms. Garson, 12 years of his senior, in 1947), an undergraduate of Oxford returns home and over a spat with Carol Beldon (Wright, a delighted ingénue in earnest yoked with sublime outpourings of pathos when the crunch hits), the granddaughter of the old money Lady Beldon (Dame May Whitty, loses her Oscar to her co-star Wright notwithstanding, her wits-within-fierceness impression is a force to be reckoned with), he is an idealist and she is more a realist, the two actually are caught by a coup-de-foudre, and before soon Vincent proposes in a home dinner and Carol says yes.

With the war looming toward the isle from the embattled Continent, Vincent enlists in the RAF as a fighter pilot and the announcement of wedding has to be parked. Clem pitches in the mission to rescue British soldiers from Dunkirk evacuation with his motorboat, whereas Kay must come face to face under duress with a wounded German pilot (Dantine) right inside their home, and for the first and only time, she loses her temper with a slap across the aggressor's face when the latter blusters with unrepentant zeal of extirpation, Greer Garson won her Oscar fairly and gracefully with this dignified portrayal.

The pulsating dread of losing beloved ones who are engaged in the warfare pervades through the story albeit the family collectively musters a can-do attitude in the face of adversity (a magnificent shelter-hiding episode speaks volumes of the horror of bombing relying inclusively on the upsetting close-ups and juddering sound effects), after tactfully convincing Lady Beldon that Vincent and Carol are a blissful union, Kay has a heartfelt tête-à-tête with Carol when the pair returns from their honeymoon in Scotland, Carol expresses her understanding of the stake she is taking by becoming a Mrs. Miniver, but in the climax, Wyler and his script-smiths forcefully overturns the casualties to those unarmed folks caught by strafing and potshots, it is this "everyone is in danger of perdition" gravity that potentially actuates the film's "pro-Britain, anti-Germany" impact in the states, beautifully bookended by the vicar's (Wilcoxon) stirring speech in the half-ruined Anglican church.

Under Wyler's well-adjusted administration, MRS. MINIVER - its title, apart from denoting the two women (Kay and Carol), is also the moniker of the rose cultivated by the station master Mr. Ballard (Travers, providentially chalking up a coattail Oscar-nomination), coined after Kay, and is awarded the first prize in the annual village flower show over the perennial winner Lady Beldon, which can be justly symbolized as the undimmed spirit of faith in humanity -, is a considerate homespun melodrama skillfully eschewing the direct war-zone spectacles and exacting an immense emotional weight in its story, potently attests how movie as a media can effectually spur the mass to the exact message of its behind-the-camera masterminds.

Have been working my way through all the old Best Picture winners, and there have been some really forgettable stinkers among the 30s/40s winners. Thankfully, Mrs. Miniver is not one of them, and I was pleasantly surprised by how good it ended up being.

I was expecting something sappy or melodramatic, or even propagandistic. I wouldn't call it sappy, its drama is compelling and surprisingly grounded, and the only part that feels a bit like propaganda is the final scene. I can understand it to some extent though, because the war was still going on, and it probably would have been too miserable to end without any hope, and that's probably what people needed in 1942.

It's daring to make a film about the war with the war still in full swing, and it really is very well done for the most part. Good performances, well-shot, and it has some really emotionally intense scenes that have an impact despite the film not being about war on the frontlines, and with no battle scenes like you'd see in most war movies.

It goes on for a while without much happening at the start, but the war-free opening third works in much the same way that fellow Best Picture winner The Deer Hunter's opening pre-Vietnam sequence did. It establishes life before the war so that when the war does begin, the impact is stronger.

Mrs. Miniver is not a perfect film, and you have to excuse a little 40s schmaltz here in there, but a lot of it feels surprisingly real, and it's tense in a way that very few movies of this age are. It's one of those few old Best Picture winners that holds up really well, and it made for a very good watch overall.

Oh also, I really liked the cat.