Review of Mrs. Miniver (1942) by John H — 21 Mar 2010

This finely acted drama from MGM swept the Oscars in 1942 and holds up very well 68 years later. I had never seen this before and picked this up Friday along with 5 other Oscar winning Best Pictures. Their reviews will follow as I watch them.

The Minivers are an upper class Brittish family consisting of mom (Oscar winning Best Actress Greer Garson), dad (Walter Pidgeon) and 3 children-an older son away at school and two young children. The war is looming over everyones heads (literally) and the son in school joins the army. There are scenes of air raids and scenes showing the family adjusting to being like everyone else and having to do their duty for the war effort. My favorite scene in the film is the scene where Mrs, Miniver finds a German soldier in her backyard, very scared and hungry, and she fixes him something to eat and then she calls the police. The young man does not try to harm her. It's a really powerful and beautiful scene.

I love movies like this and love finding classic films I've never seen before. A lot of people will probably find this film overdramatic and weepy but I loved it. This is the type of film MGM did best and this is a jewel in their crown.

This film was nominated for a whopping 12 Oscars and won 6. Out of 82 Besdt Picture winners I now have 72 so I almost have them all. This film was directed by the wonderful William Wyler, who took the Oscar for Best Director, and released by MGM. Not Rated.