Evan D. As a project this year we are taking a trip through time to revisit all of the Best Picture winners in history, Wings to Anora. Mrs. Miniver is the fifteenth film in that series, to see all the other Best Picture reviews, click here. Hollywood’s fascination with war dates back to the very early days of film itself. Plenty of silent era films revolved around war and many even served as propaganda during the First World War. The Academy too has demonstrated a consistent preference for the genre, awarding two of its first three Best Picture prizes to films on the subject. By the time World War II began, the golden age of Hollywood was in full swing and some of its great artists used their work to capture the ongoing conflict. William Wyler’s Mrs. Miniver became the first of these efforts to win Best Picture. Kay Miniver (Greer Garson) is a typical upper class housewife in the London suburbs. She and her husband Clem (Walter Pidgeon) raise their family, tend to their estate and worry about overspending on a hat or a car. Not that her life is simple, but Mrs. Miniver’s biggest trouble is a feud with the wealthy Lady Beldon (May Whitty) over an upcoming flower competition in town. War strikes and suddenly the scope of challenge facing the Minivers expands significantly. Their son Vin (Richard Ney) joins the Royal Air Force, Clem is called to assist with the evacuation of Dunkirk and Mrs. Miniver’s old worries begin to look frivolous in the shadow of nightly bombings. What is amazing about these contemporary war films is just how deeply lived in they feel. We hear about the “Keep Calm and Carry On” spirit of wartime London and see facsimiles of it in modern movies but Mrs. Miniver feels like the picture is actively willing it into existence. Admittedly that description makes the film feel like a propaganda effort, which it absolutely is and an impressive one at that. Some of the most emotionally impactful scenes — Mrs. Miniver confronting a German pilot or the Minivers reading Alice in Wonderland during a particularly rough shelling — are pure propaganda. And by most accounts it worked! Reports at the time indicate that the release of Mrs. Miniver helped form some of Britain’s wartime identity and its run stateside corresponded with an increase in American sympathy for their British allies. That the film was able to accomplish actual shifts in public perception speaks to the quality of the filmmaking itself. Garson is tremendous in the title role, holding down nearly every scene of the movie. Her chemistry with Pidgeon is palpable as she whips from domestic comedy to devastation. Through all she endures, her calm demeanor and stiff upper lip paper over the pain and fear she dares not show those around her. For all the heaviness of war, Wyler manages to keep the film light on its feet. He balances the suffering and fear with a well timed wit that keeps Mrs. Miniver from being too weighed down. Mrs. Miniver is certainly one of the Best Picture winners that has not carried its popularity forward into today. It is unfortunate because I think the film actually holds up better than a lot of its contemporaries. Perhaps the plot description of a housewife during the forties is not effective enough at conveying the intimate life-at-war epic that the film truly is. Those willing to give it a shot will find that it remains one of the best films the Oscars has honored. 10/10
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