Mrs Miniver (1942)

 It is 1940, and Europe is in the throws of World War II; France is being overrun by Nazis, Germany holds all the cards and Britain stands almost alone in the fight to stop Hitler and his axis of evil. The Allies are doing their best to poke America, but it, pursuing a policy of isolationism, wants European affairs to remain just that. German-born director William Wyler decides he wants to help in the effort to involve the US in this epic war occurring only an ocean away, and thus begins his involvement in the 1942 Academy Award winner for Best Picture, Mrs Miniver.

Mrs Miniver opens on Mrs Kay Miniver (Greer Garson in her Academy Award winning turn), a middle-class woman who is shopping in busy London pre-World War II. She enters a boutique store where she makes quite a fuss about the purchase of what is clearly a very precious and expensive hat. She leaves and boards the train to Balham, where her, her husband (Walter Pidgeon) and her children live. Everything seems fairly pleasant in the world of Mrs Miniver; that is until World War II begins to conquer England, and their lives will be changed forever.

It all seems rather dramatic, and it is; Mrs Miniver is the quintessential World War II propaganda film. It’s easy to see why it felt so important to its time; Presidents pushed to get the film in cinemas quickly, Prime Ministers praised the film’s importance. Contextually, the film works wonderfully; it, both literally and metaphorically, brings Nazi Germany to the doorsteps of the audience in a powerful and persuasive manner. We are forced to reckon with the idea of the world being overrun by a foreign and dangerous force, obliged to acknowledge that the beautiful rose of England may not bloom as it once did before; and I’m sure this felt very real to a Western audience in 1942.

Yet the film feels so outdated; the most nominated director in Academy Award history, William Wyler is as bland a director as they come, and there really is very little extraordinary, or even interesting, about what he does with the material. Its importance seems lost in 1942, back when the director could play on the innate fear of its audience, instead of having to establish the fear himself. The only real strength of the film is found in the performances. Garson is respectable as the virtuous titular character, bringing the requisite charm and warmth to Mrs Miniver in a way only the most able of actors could. What the role requires, she offers in spades, and it’s for that reason the film is watchable. Add to that the brilliant, Oscar-winning performance of Teresa Wright as the equally-lovable and ever-so charismatic Carol Beldon, and the hilariously cutting performance of Dame May Whitty as Carol’s grandmother Lady Beldon, and you get a fairly enjoyable female ensemble. Even the youngest son (who looks sufficiently feminine) Toby (Christopher Severn) is wonderful.

It is wonderful to find a film which was made so as to facilitate the resonance of the war with those at home. The clear focus on the lives of the female characters is indicative of the particular attempt to drive this message home to the common housewife, which is commendable for a film of its time. The unfortunate part is that, try as the film does, the strength of the female characters is laughable by modern standards, and there is even one scene where Mrs Miniver, having proven herself the equal of her husband, is slapped hard on the rear, effectively undoing the work of the writers up until that point. The lack of dimension to all the characters repeatedly undermines the film also, though Wright and Garson do so much to make up for it. Without them, this film would be lost.

Having said all this, Mrs Miniver was a hit in its day, being the biggest film of 1942 and MGM’s greatest earner at the time. The film resounded so well that Roosevelt had parts of the dialogue printed onto leaflets and dropped during the war. It earned twelve Oscar nominations, was the first film to be nominated in all four acting categories and it won in six categories all up. It served its purpose as a propaganda film, effectively summing up the feeling of its time and is a reminder of the horrors which war brings home. And the social discourse which makes its way into the film is fairly powerful, definitely one of the more effective aspects. Yet it is a shame the purpose of Mrs Miniver is so obvious and clear, because the soul of the film remains trapped in the realms of 1942 and cannot move beyond. The next Oscar winner for Best Picture would go on to show how a propaganda film can serve to be so much more…