mrs. miniver

[butterscotchgreer]

this fabulous movie greer one her oscar for in 1942.
lets talk about it!

[butterscotchgreer]

this wondrous movie was the second movie greer starred in with walter pidgeon...which makes it all the more merrier. it is about an upper-middle-class family trying to cope with world war two coming into action in their home country of england.

there is also a great supporting cast to this movie with dame may witty as lady beldon, teresa wright as carol beldon miniver, richard ney as vince (vin) miniver, henry travers as mr. ballard who enters his mrs. miniver rose into the flower show as a competing against lady beldon's white rose which has always won first prize.

this is smong my top five fav greer movies!

walter pidgeon got a nomination for best actor, greer won best actress, teresa wright won best supporting actress, dame may witty got a nomination for best supporting actress, henry travers got a nomination for best supporting actor, it won best picture and william wyler got best directing for this movie. among its 12 nominations, it won an amazing 6 oscars.

[dan]

So I finally came around to the Mrs Miniver thread. Do you have a favorite scene in this movie Theresa or are there too many to keep track of them?

[dan]

I think the scene where Walter leaves in the boat and Greer is left to face the German pilot and then doesn't mention it to Walter may be my favorite of the movie. This was a very good scene and Greer gave a wonderful performance with it.

[dan]

I also liked the scene at the end where the son walks over to his mother-inlaw and started singing with her. This is probably my second favorite scene in the movie.

The bomb shelter scene with Walter and Greer was also a very memorable scene. I think it realistically captured what it must have been like to live through WW 2 as a civilian during the air raids.

[butterscotchgreer]

man dan we are more alike than i think. heehee!

yeah i love those scenes too, they are some of my favorite scenes.
i also like the scene where vin leaves to go fly and fight in the war and he leaves them that singal with the plane in the air when saying goodbye. she freezes everything and waits for it, b/c she hears all those planes flying over the house and she rushes the window to open it and look up in the air with walter behind her with his hands on her shoulders. that is such a sweet scene with them. and then when walter returns from the boat and the same night vin returns and signals her again that he is home but walter is too out of it asleep to even hear her, so she opens tthe window anyway and puts her whole head out the window to look up and she starts crying b/c he is back safe and sound....both of them. i loove that part.

when i first saw this movie i wasnt expecting the german pilot so you could imagine my face when i thought something was gonna happen to her. i was edge on my seat. that is one of my favorite scenes b/c of how well she handled it and how strong she came across in it.

i also love the air raid shelter scene, esp when her and walter were talking before the bombs came to get their minds off the war. i love the alice in wonderland part and when walter asked what would happen if toby ever lost napolean. greer said that she doesnt dare think,b/c its horrible to be without something you really love...or someone and she grabs his hand. i always sigh to that part. i swear it is like watching a gary movie, except he isnt in it. heehee! i wish!! i have too many favorite scenes in this movie!!

[greergarson]

I just love Greer's gorgeous smile at May whitty when talking of Vin and Carole and that line of mays "you have such a way of looking at people" , people have said that to me too, and what a lady to be compared with huh.

[butterscotchgreer]

wow you have been complimented on that too? so have i? i have never known why people said that i have a certain way of looking at people like that, and when i that in mrs. miniver i was so surprised. i love being compared to greer to!

[greergarson]

Great isn't it although Iam not as beautiful like greer , I aspire to be like her in ways and acts and she is and always has been my mentor.

[butterscotchgreer]

oh i know what you mean, she has been my role model since i dont even remember when. heehee! when you get her bio you will find that she was a great person off the screen as well as on.

[greergarson]

Check this out guys was so happy when I found it.
digital.library.upenn.edu/women/struther/miniver/miniver.html

[butterscotchgreer]

thank you for that kay!!!

you know jan strurther sued MGM when they amde The Miniver story, the sequal, b/c in the movie she died and that isnt hiow it happened in the book. but right after the lasuit, jan died.

[greergarson]

Your very welcome, I loved the Miniver story apart from Greer dying , which even now I cry my eyes out and in Blossoms when Edna gives up little Tony.

[butterscotchgreer]

you aren the only one, i think i cry to all of her drama and heavy romantic movies. the only ones i dont cry to, are her cutsie funny ones. heehee!

[Miss Retro]

Full Synopsis:
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.

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