Of all movies to review, I don’t know if my review of Mrs. Miniver is appropriate at this time or not. America has just suffered the most heinous of degradations a nation could suffer, having been attacked in two of its major cities. However, I can’t help but consider reviewing the 1942 film, especially after reading “Redmaple's” excellent, though controversial opinion (written several months ago)about the World War II film. I have apologized in advance to "Redmaple" in a comment to his review, for singling out his July 2001 excellent work, if only to write my own in semi-rebuttal.

Like “Redmaple,” I would encourage everyone to see the film (and please read "Redmaple's" review, but you’re forewarned that the review is a spoiler). More poignantly, I would encourage every single American to watch the film if only to gather strength from it as we consider the Herculean task ahead of us during one of our darkest hours. In effect, like England in World War II, we have to endure the rebuilding of our own nation, physically, and psychologically, as we dig out from under the rubble. I make the comparison to World War II, because it is very likely that the implications of the acts of the terrorists will have enormous implications for the world, and without sounding apocalyptic…

“Mrs. Miniver” is directed by one of America’s greatest directors, William Wyler. Wyler is a simple director, who does not disguise his patriotism in this film. At the time, it was an important film because, when “Mrs. Miniver” was written, America had not yet entered the war, and history has it that Hollywood took the rhetoric a notch higher once America entered the war. Apparently, the ending bombed-out church scene with parishoners was the answer, rousing all freedom-loving peoples to fight the Nazi scourge worldwide.

Without being in the least bit critical of the director, I opine that Mr. Wyler’s films, in general, are theatrical in their emphasis on character development and the interrelationships of its characters. Mr. Wyler does not use special effects to state the human condition. Wyler’s films, in general, explore the family dynamic, and in this case he focuses his camera’s eye on a small hamlet in England. The hamlet has to band together to fight, using their limited resources (fishing boats), and patriotic resolve to fight the enemy, which was definitely in their backyards. The quaint lives of a British family are forever changed as their own resolve is tested in acts of heroism and bravery.

Although “Mrs. Miniver” is critiqued by both “Redmaple” and critic Leonard Maltin, as “Hollywoodized,” I would gander that considering one of the writers was born in Lancashire, England, he might know of what he speaks. Internet Movie Data Base shows James Hilton, one of the screenwriters, as being from England. He also wrote several films that depict the quaintness of British life, from “Goodbye Mr. Chips,” to “Random Harvest,” and “Foreign Correspondent,” the latter the celebrated Hitchcock movie.

Although on today’s American standards, “Mrs. Miniver” seems a bit too quaint and simplistic, it was probably a bit more accurate than any of us would understand, unless we lived in England at that time. I did not have occasion to be alive in 1942, but I lived in the suburbs of England only a couple years ago, for one year, and was surprised at how provincial it is, to this day, notwithstanding London’s cosmopolitanism. Most families have some sort of flower garden in their small front yards, and many a Brit spends the whole weekend gardening. That a small community might make much ado about gardening fifty years ago, before the advent of television, VCR’s, the Internet, and Eopinions.com, is perfectly plausible, to me. And though it may seem hokey to us, I found it endearing.

The point of the film is that the very fabric of our lives can be torn asunder by war. The routine of our daily lives becomes totally forgotten when war knocks on our doorstep, as it does when Greer Garson’s titled character, “Mrs. Miniver,” plays unwilling hostess to a German soldier. Here, metaphor is key, as the soldier was literally, in her “backyard,” as the Germans were at the time, as Hitler would bomb England, and it would have to fend for itself. The point of that scene, I believe, was to show the abject brainwashing of fair-haired youth at the time, and to see it up close and personal. However revolting it might have seemed, it gave Nazism a face, and this was a very important tactical tool played by the screenwriters to rouse the audience to unite in opposition to Hitler (although by the time the film showed, America did not need any coaxing). That scene between Mrs. Garson and the Nazi-playing actor (Helmut Dantine)is one of the most tense-filled two-person scene’s I have ever witnessed on film, as the innocence of a doting provincial mother is totally threatened, when she has to decide, herself, how to defend her own home.

As for Walter Pidgeon’s role, the name of the film is “Mrs. Miniver,” and to focus the film on Mr. Pidgeon would necessarily change the whole character of the film. Walter Pidgeon is excellent in his role, playing his part in the shadows, so as not to take away from the leading lady. He does a brilliant job of being very much on the sidelines. This is one of my favorite films of Mr. Pidgeon's besides, “How Green Was My Valley.”

This film has a subtlety to it that is brilliant in its sophistication. Most Wyler films are action-less. No special effects with Wyler, except the special effect of the camera’s catching a look or a glimpse or a subtle moment, all without using a quick ZOOM-ing in close-up. For any Wyler film-buff, which I certainly am (for the most part), this film is quintessential Wyler, which is why it is so deserving of the accolades it received.

Wyler’s directing choices are exemplary because he has a habit of exposing "American family life” and turning it on its head. He will reprise this concept thirteen years later in “The Desperate Hours,” a brilliant film with Fredric March (who played in Wyler’s absolutely superb “Best Years of Our Lives,” and, incidentally, the narrator of Miniver’s screenwriter Hilton’s documentary, “Lights Out in Europe.”).

In a twist of fates that is most surprising to the innocent viewer, the plot actually tugs at your heart in such a riveting way, that it is almost too real to experience. In addition, Wyler’s “mascot,” Theresa Wright, is one of America’s most unknown excellent actresses who deserves more accolades than she’s given.

Rent this film. It is much more contemporary than we should have to admit to of late but our nation’s recent tragic events – and the future of our country and the world, in general, make this great film -- a must see film.

Sentimentality keeps us human. This is a supremely human film.












Recommended:
Yes

Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older