MRS. MINIVER [1942 / 2014] [Blu-ray] [USA Release] The Wartime Classic of a Nation’s Darkest, Yet Finest Hour! Voted The Greatest Movie Ever!
Kay Miniver doesn’t fly a Spitfire in dogfights over London or ply the North Sea in a battleship, but Kay Miniver is doing her all for wartime England. And Kay does it so well, that Winston Churchill would say ‘MRS. MINIVER’ was more vital to the Nation, than a fleet of destroyers.
Winner of Six Academy Awards® and including Best Picture. This memorable spirit-lifter about an idealised England that tends its prize-winning roses while confronting the terror of war struck a patriotic chord with American audiences and became 1942's No.1 box-office hit. Greer Garson gives a formidable Oscar-winning performance in the title role, comforting children in a bomb shelter, capturing an enemy parachutist and delivering an inspirational portrait of stiff-upper-lip British resolve. When Hitler did his worst, but ‘MRS. MINIVER’ did her best.
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1942 National Board of Review, USA: Win: NBR Award for Top Ten Films. Win: NBR Award for Best Acting for Teresa Wright. 1942 New York Film Critics Circle Awards: Nominated: Best Actress for Greer Garson. 1943 Academy Awards®: Win: Best Picture. Win: Best Actress in a Leading Role for Greer Garson. Win: Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Teresa Wright. Win: Best Director for William Wyler. Win: Best Writing for a Screenplay for Arthur Wimperis, Claudine West, George Froeschel and James Hilton. Win: Best Cinematography in Black-and-White for Joseph Ruttenberg. Nominated: Best Actor in a Leading Role for Walter Pidgeon. Nominated: Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Henry Travers. Nominated: Best Actress in a Supporting Role for May Whitty. Nominated: Best Sound, Recording for Douglas Shearer (M-G-M SSD). Nominated: Best Film Editing for Harold F. Kress. Nominated: Best Effects with Special Effects for A. Arnold Gillespie (photographic), Douglas Shearer (sound) and Warren Newcombe (photographic). 2009 National Film Preservation Board, USA: Win: National Film Registry for the film ‘MRS. MINIVER.’
FILM FACT No.2: In terms of modern film technology directing, acting and aesthetics, this was a quintessential Hollywood film. Yet it had a profound impact on British audiences. Historian Tony Judt says the film is a very English tale of domestic fortitude and endurance, of middle-class reticence and perseverance, set symptomatically around the disaster at Dunkirk where all these qualities were taken to be most on display, it was a pure product of Hollywood. Yet for the English generation that first saw it the film would long remain the truest representation of national memory and self-image. The film exceeded all expectations, grossing $5,358,000 in the USA and Canada and the highest for any M-G-M film at the time, and $3,520,000 abroad. In the United Kingdom, it was named the top box office attraction of 1942. The initial theatrical release made MGM a profit of $4,831,000, their most profitable film of the year.
Cast: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Teresa Wright, Dame May Whitty, Reginald Owen, Henry Travers, Richard Ney, Henry Wilcoxon, Christopher Severn, Brenda Forbes, Clare Sandars, Marie De Becker, Helmut Dantine, John Abbott, Connie Leon, Rhys Williams, Harry Allen (uncredited), Frank Atkinson (uncredited), Sybil Bacon (uncredited), Frank Baker (uncredited), Virginia Bassett (uncredited), Louise Bates (uncredited), Guy Bellis (uncredited), Charles Bennett (uncredited), Florence Benson (uncredited), Art Berry Sr. (uncredited), Beth (uncredited), Billy Bevan (uncredited), Ted Billings (uncredited), Robert Owen Boulding (uncredited), John Burton (uncredited), Gene Byram (uncredited), Walter Byron (uncredited), Colin Campbell (uncredited), Leonard Carey (uncredited), Aileen Carlyle (uncredited), St. Luke's Episcopal Church Choristers (uncredited), Herbert Clifton (uncredited), David Clyde (uncredited), Tom Conway (uncredited), Edward Cooper (uncredited), Jules Cowles (uncredited), Alec Craig (uncredited), Sidney D'Albrook (uncredited), Joan Delmer (uncredited), Irene Denny (uncredited), David Dunbar (uncredited), Billy Engle (uncredited), Herbert Evans (uncredited), Mary Field (uncredited), E.L. Fisher-Smith (uncredited), Leslie Francis (uncredited), Sidney Franklin (uncredited), Douglas Gordon (uncredited), Gibson Gowland (uncredited), Hugh Greenwood (uncredited), Bobbie Hale (uncredited), Eddie Hall (uncredited), Forrester Harvey (uncredited), Billy Horn (uncredited), Harold Howard (uncredited), Charles Irwin (uncredited), Colin Kenny (uncredited), Henry King (uncredited), Peter Lawford (uncredited), Eric Lonsdale (uncredited), Thomas Louden (uncredited), Miles Mander (uncredited), Stanley Mann (uncredited), Aubrey Mather (uncredited), Dan Maxwell (uncredited), Dickie Meyers (uncredited), Alice Mock (uncredited), Eula Morgan (uncredited), Ottola Nesmith (uncredited), Gil Perkins (uncredited), John Power (uncredited), Charles Ray (uncredited), Clara Reid (uncredited), Paul Scardon (uncredited), Leslie Sketchley (uncredited), Gerald Oliver Smith (uncredited), Vernon Steele (uncredited), Vivia Steele (uncredited), David Thursby (uncredited), Tommy Tucker (uncredited), Leslie Vincent (uncredited), Kitty Watson (uncredited), Ben Webster (uncredited), Tudor Williams (uncredited), Arthur Wimperis (uncredited), Marek Windheim (uncredited), Florence Wix (uncredited) and Ian Wolfe (uncredited)
Director: William Wyler
Producers: Sidney Franklin and William Wyler
Screenplay: Jan Struther (based on the book), Arthur Wimperis (screenplay), Claudine West (screenplay), George Froeschel (screenplay), James Hilton (screenplay), Henry Wilcoxon (closing speech) (uncredited), Paul Osborn (contributing writer) (uncredited) and R.C. Sherriff (contributing writer) (uncredited)
Composer: Herbert Stothart (musical score)
Cinematography: Joseph Ruttenberg, A.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Black-and-White)
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio: English: 1.0 DTS-HD Master Audio
French: 1.0 Dolby Digital Mono Audio
Italian: 1.0 Dolby Digital Mono Audio
German: 1.0 Dolby Digital Mono Audio
Spanish [Castilian]: 1.0 Dolby Digital Mono Audio
Spanish [Latin]: 1.0 Dolby Digital Mono Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish, German SDH and Italian SDH and Korean
Running Time: 133 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / Warner Home Video
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: War Propaganda films were a dime a dozen during World War II, with most focusing on men in uniform and their valiant efforts against a bitter and relentless foe. ‘MRS. MINIVER’ 1942 rekease, was different and unique. William Wyler's understated, sensitive, and utterly involving portrait of a British family and their day-to-day struggles during the German Blitz brings the home front to the forefront, and with keen perception chronicles the personal battles fought there. Though violence comes at a premium, the standing of ‘MRS. MINIVER’ as one of the all-time great World War II films still remains undiminished. Along with David O. Selznick's ‘Since You Went Away,’ which salutes American wartime families, 'Mrs. Miniver' depicts how everyday people confront extraordinary challenges during difficult times, and with courage, dignity, and unyielding will take a united stand against a common evil. Their heroics may be small, but they're as meaningful and important as any on the battlefield, and with simple grace, ‘MRS. MINIVER’ pays tribute to them.
William Wyler's film resonates so strongly and remains timeless because it's populated by identifiable, upstanding citizens who, for the most part, espouse attitudes and ideals akin to our own. Like many of us, the Miniver’s are a typical family with a stoic yet warm father, Clem Miniver [Walter Pidgeon]; a spirited, nurturing mother, Kay Miniver [Greer Garson]; and three children, a grown son, Vin Miniver [Richard Ney], and a boy and girl under the age of 10. Though the Miniver’s are a bit better off than most clans (okay, they're loaded, but still considered upper middle class by British standards), in the carefree days before the first strike of war, Kay Miniver still feels guilty about purchasing an extravagant hat. But Clem Miniver expresses far less remorse about buying a new roadster. Vin Miniver, just home from Oxford, falls in love with Carol Beldon [Teresa Wright], granddaughter of the grouchy, disapproving town dowager, Lady Beldon [Dame May Whitty], and enrols in flight school immediately following the declaration of war. Clem Miniver joins the neighbourhood watch, Kay Miniver tends to the children and in between periodic air-raids, which they calmly weather with steely resolve in the shelter adjacent to their home; they all try to maintain a sense of normalcy, honouring their beliefs and not permitting outside forces to alter their way of life. It's a good message, and one that's still relevant today.
William Wyler does a fine job illustrating the Miniver’s easy-going, idyllic existence before the war, and the leisurely pacing allows us to settle in and bond with the family before German bombs begin to fall. In many ways, the films episodic structure mirrors that of ‘Meet Me in St. Louis’ and produced two years later in which also was based on a series of stories with little cohesive narrative tying them together. As time passes, the Miniver’s endure more than their share of drama and Clem Miniver joins a fleet of small boats aiding in the Dunkirk evacuation while Kay Miniver tangles with a wounded German soldier who invades her home, but their strength and nobility never seem phony or self-righteous. After all, the Miniver’s are British, even though Greer Garson is the only member of the family with an accent, and such behaviour is expected from the British Empire's dutiful subjects.
Of course, that impervious attitude is never more apparent than in the film's most iconic scene. Holed up in their shelter, awaiting the nightly attack, Kay Miniver quietly reads 'Alice in Wonderland' to the children while Clem Miniver smokes his pipe and drinks tea. A distant barrage can be heard, but it doesn't ruffle their nerves or impinge on their casual conversation. Soon, the squeal of dropping bombs disrupts the calm, but Kay Miniver steadies herself with knitting. As the attack intensifies and explosions rock the shelter, the children succumb to panic. Trapped in the cramped surroundings, unable to see outside, and bracing themselves for impact amid the interminable whistling of free-falling missiles, the family huddles together as Kay Miniver and Clem Miniver comfort the crying children. It's a harrowing sequence is tense, taut, claustrophobic, with sound the only indicator of impending doom and with one brilliant brushstroke, William Wyler paints an indelible portrait of a brave nation under siege.
‘MRS. MINIVER’ was the top money making film of 1942 and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was its number one fan, deeming the propaganda it spouted more powerful than a squadron of battleships. The film defined the Brits' practical outlook and stubborn determination, and cautioned the Nazis not to underestimate civilian fortitude. Other countries might collapse under the strain of incessant bombing, the film implied, but not England, which was breeding an army of Mrs. Minivers, all of whom were ready and eager to protect their homeland whatever the cost.
Greer Garson was one of the most respected actresses of the 1940s, earning six Academy Award® nominations between 1939 and 1945. Though the studio Chief Louis B. Mayer originally wanted Norma Shearer to play Kay Miniver (Norma Shearer reportedly declined the part because her vanity wouldn't allow her to be seen onscreen as the mother of a teenager), it's impossible to imagine anyone other than Greer Garson in the role. A touch of affectation occasionally creeps into her portrayal, but a refreshing naturalness and ingratiating charm pervade her work, and her comfortable rapport with Walter Pidgeon, with whom she co-starred in eight pictures from 1941 to 1953, makes them quite believable as a married couple. Walter Pidgeon also received an OSCAR® nomination, but losing to James Cagney in ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy,’ but his performance seems wooden by comparison.
A radiant Teresa Wright, who was nominated for Best Actress the same year for the Lou Gehrig biopic ‘The Pride of the Yankees,’ justly earned her Best Supporting Actress Oscar with a luminous portrayal that beautifully complements Greer Garson's in both vision and tone, and a pre-Clarence Henry Travers received a Supporting Actor nod as the mild-mannered station master who names a rose after Kay Miniver and brazenly enters it in the town's annual flower show, much to the displeasure of Lady Beldon, who has monopolised the contest for decades.
Add to all this an interesting bit of trivia: Greer Garson and Richard Ney, the young actor who portrays her oldest son in the film, fell in love during shooting. The 27-year-old Ney was 11 years Greer Garson's junior, and a rightly nervous M-G-M persuaded the couple to put off their marriage until the initial promotional and release cycle of 'Mrs. Miniver' concluded. Still, in hindsight, knowing the details of their off-screen relationship, it's a tad creepy watching Richard Ney call Greer Garson "mother" throughout the film, and seeing her shower him with maternal affection.
Four years after ‘MRS. MINIVER,’ William Wyler would win another Best Director Oscar for another Best Picture home front film, ‘The Best Years of Our Lives,’ which chronicles the readjustment struggles returning soldiers face when reuniting with their families. The film nicely bookends ‘MRS. MINIVER’ and proves William Wyler possessed a special understanding of domestic dynamics and interpersonal relations during stressful times. Though World War II tested the strength of England's inimitable stiff upper lip, 'Mrs. Miniver' provided vital reinforcement at a critical juncture, bolstering morale abroad and infusing an agitated America, which had just entered the conflict, with some much-needed inspiration. And despite the passage of time and a total shift in attitude, that inspiration hasn't waned. Like her or not, ‘MRS. MINIVER’ remains a role model for the ages, and the film that bears her name still merits our attention.
MRS. MINIVER MUSIC TRACK LIST
MIDSUMMERS’ DAY (uncredited) (Written by Gene Lockhart) [Played and Sung by the local glee club at the flower show]
GOOD NIGHT, LADIES (uncredited) (Traditional) [Played by the band at the dance]
GOD SAVE THE KING! (1744) (uncredited) (Written by Henry Carey) [Played by the band at the dance]
THE BRITISH GRENADIERS (uncredited) (Traditional) [Whistled offscreen by the Milkman]
CHILDREN OF THE HEAVENLY KING (Pleyel's Hymn) (1791) (uncredited) (Words by John Cennick) (1742) (Music by Ignace Pleyel) [Sung at the church]
Wedding March from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1843) (uncredited) (Written by Felix Mendelssohn) [Played on piano by Clare Sandars]
FOR HE’S A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW (uncredited) (Traditional) [Sung by all at the flower show]
ONWARD, CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS (1871) (uncredited) (Music by Arthur Sullivan) (Lyrics by Sabine Baring-Gould) (1865) [Sung by all at a church service]
Pomp and Circumstance March No.1 in D Major, Op.39 (1901) (uncredited) (Composed by Edward Elgar) [In the score during the end credits]
CHILDREN OF THE HEAVENLY KING [Sung to the tune “Pleyel's Hymn,” which may well have been the most usual tune for this hymn in the United States at that time, but in England it would have been much more usual to sing this hymn to the tune “Innocents”]
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Blu-ray Video Quality – There's something about the black-and-white photography of the 1940’s that's so seductive and entrancing, it makes colour seem unnecessary. And when it's impeccably restored and transferred to high definition, as it has been here, it can be jaw-dropping beautiful. ‘MRS. MINIVER’ looks superb on Blu-ray, sporting an image bursting with perfectly pitched contrast and marvellous clarity. As soon as the opening credits roll, it's immediately apparent we're in for a visual treat, and for its entire 133 minute running time, the quality of this stellar effort from Warner Home Video never wavers. A smattering of light grain lends the image cosy warmth and heightens the appearance and variance of textures, but never does the picture seem processed. Joseph Ruttenberg's Oscar winning cinematography is meticulously preserved, with a wide grey scale enhancing the impact of light and shadows, increasing depth perception, and illuminating background elements. Blacks are rich and silky, shadow delineation is especially good, and even during low-lit nocturnal scenes crush is kept at bay. Vibrant whites nicely accent various scenes, and close-ups, though often shot in soft focus, are crisp and lovely. The source material is spotless, with nary a speck or scratch marring the image, and no noise, banding, or pixilation intrudes. Best of all, the transfer appears free of digital tinkering and exudes a fluid, natural feeling throughout. ‘MRS. MINIVER’ is a very stirring film, and the visual potency of this top-notch rendering makes it more involving and immediate than ever before.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – ‘MRS. MINIVER’ possesses a surprisingly active soundscape and it received an OSCAR® nomination for Best Sound Recording, and the 1.0 DTS-HD Master Audio track included here honours it to the fullest. Whistles are the star of this sonic show, whether they are the spritely toots of a train engine, the delicate warbles of an approaching figure, or, most notably, the ear-splitting whines of cascading bombs. The decibel levels run the gamut, but the effects are clean, crisp, and startlingly realistic. Gentle atmospherics are rendered well, too, but the accents really shine, punching up the track without overwhelming it. As a whole, the sound fills the room well. Herbert Stothart's string-laden music score emits a fine tone, and dialogue is generally clear and easy to understand, though a few exchanges are a bit muffled. Any age-related defects, such as hiss, pops, static, or crackles, have been erased, so quiet moments, especially the tense stand-off between Kay and the German soldier, achieve a stronger degree of resonance and impact. Bass frequencies are strong, too. The bombing sequences produce a good degree of heft, even without subwoofer involvement, and while a bit of distortion creeps into the scene showing the small crafts gathering en masse on the River Thames in London, and the low-end presence is strikingly pronounced. Despite perceptions to the contrary, ‘MRS. MINIVER’ requires a charged audio presentation, and this transfer delivers it quite nicely.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature Vintage Newsreel Footage: 1942 Academy Awards® [1942] [1.37:1] [480i] [1:00] Greer Garson accepts her Best Actress Oscar for ‘MRS. MINIVER’ from the previous year's winner, Joan Fontaine, and gives a heartfelt speech, a la Sally Field about being accepted by the American film industry. This one-minute excerpt only skims the surface of Garson's marathon address, which at a whopping five minutes and 30 seconds and holds the record as the longest Academy Awards® acceptance speech in history. The following year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences instituted a time limit, much to the continued relief of colleagues and spectators alike.
Special Feature: Vintage M-G-M Cartoon: ‘Blitz Wolf’ [1942] [480i] [1.37:1] [11:00] This topical, edgy, and often hilarious Tex Avery cartoon uses the Three Little Pigs tale as a springboard for a satire on Hitler's aggression and the iron nerve of the Allies. Avery pulls no punches in his disdain for the Third Reich, and the anti-German and Japanese sentiment is surprisingly blatant for an animated short. A disclaimer proceeds the cartoon warning of ethnic prejudice and stereotypes, but if viewed in its proper context, ‘Blitz Wolf; is a rousing piece of wartime propaganda that flings barbs like bombs and adeptly uses humour to stoke the passions of its audience. Towards the end of the cartoon, Adolf Wolf is blown out of his bomber plane by the pigs' artillery shells filled with Defence bonds and falls down to Earth, together with a bomb which blows him to Hell. There he realises he is dead and says: "Where am I? Have I been blown to...?", whereupon a group of devils adds: "Ehhhh, it's a possibility!" in reference to a then well-known catchphrase. It was directed by Tex Avery and produced by Fred Quimby. It was nominated for the Academy Award® for Best Short Subject: Cartoons.
Special Feature Vintage Short: Mr. Blabbermouth! [1942] [480i] [1.37:1] [19:00] This amusing and informative 1942 short chronicles the danger of rumour in a wartime society. According to the film, Hitler employed insidious rumour to brainwash the German populace during his rise to power, and if left unchecked in the U.S.A, such unfounded gossip might bring down the war effort. The short also examines U.S.A. weapons and its military and industrial strength, and compares them to that of Japan. The narrator also cautions moviegoers against spreading rumours (which are often initiated by enemy infiltrators to create fear and dissention) and believing everything they read in the newspapers. Just because "they say" something, that doesn't make it true.
Special Feature Vintage Short: For the Common Defense! [1942] [480i] [1.37:1] [21:00] This 1942 vintage short, informs us that "Crime Doesn't Pay" and looks at how the efforts of Central and South American countries to manipulate U.S.A. citizens into traitorous activities for economic gain will be foiled at every turn. Though brisk and entertaining, the short's real attraction is the appearance of both a young Van Johnson in one of his first film roles as a U.S.A. government agent and a young Stephen McNally (billed here as Horace McNally) as a Latin official.
Theatrical Trailer [1942] [1.37:1] [1080p] [3:00] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘MRS. MINIVER.’ This ‘MRS. MINIVER’ wide release trailer, touting it as the most important film of the past decade, and shows you how it wanted to inspire the people of the United Kingdom and the World in promoting the propaganda, that fighting for your freedom was well worth fighting for and surprisingly effective.
Finally, another Best Picture winner comes to a Blu-ray release, and ‘MRS. MINIVER’ seven decades after its initial release, still merits the accolade. A warm, moving, and often tense study of courage and defiance, this wartime classic is a model of fine moviemaking. William Wyler's film is firm yet sensitive direction coupled with a gallery of first-rate performances and impeccable production values combine to produce a film that's as involving and affecting today as it surely was back in 1942. Warner Home Video Blu-ray edition does the picture proud, with a beautiful black-and-white video transfer and potent audio that immerses us in the on-screen action. Though more supplements that relate directly to ‘MRS. MINIVER’ would have been a welcome addition to this package, the film itself and its marvellous high-definition presentation easily earns it a top award and that is why I am so honoured to have this brilliant and beautiful classic film in my Blu-ray Collection. Very Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
