Mrs. Miniver

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Connor S Cheers, tears, and fears make this a wonderful movie from start to finish. It cannot be put into a box of "romance", "war movie", "comedy", "tragedy", "thriller", "heart-warmer", but is a mixture of all! Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/04/24 Full Review David F This movie about a family facing the trials and tribulations of the early years of WWII in England shows the joys of family life, a favourite topic of MGM. It starts out with trifles like a wife being embarrassed to let her husband know how much money she spent on a hat and then segues into children going off to war and Nazi airmen parachuting into the back garden. While it's a bit lengthy at times for modern tastes, I think, it's full of gems like the bunker scene where the two parents, their two children, and the family cat, Napoleon, take shelter while a huge, violent bombing raid unfolds above them. Explosions and gunfire on the soundtrack gradually lead to jolts and shaking in their sandbagged shelter. It's a masterful combination of sound design, acting, and pacing and completely suspenseful and terrifying. It's also a metaphor for the whole movie and the way it subtly and gradually shifts from trifles and superficialities to life and death situations almost without the spectator noticing. It's the kind of film that makes an impact on you without doing so overly overtly. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/13/23 Full Review Raymond S What 21st century critics and fans don't realize that WW2 morale-boosting movies were resoundingly cheered by 1942 audiences. One cannot apply the mores and morals of this century to period films: critics do, but they have no connection to the era depicted in these films. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 12/29/22 Full Review Mark A Hasn't aged well. Greer Garson won the Academy Award for this film. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 12/20/22 Full Review sean l World War II from the middle-class Brits' perspective. We join a hard-working family, share their modest concerns just before the onset of hostilities, then stand by as their priorities drastically shift. In one moment, lavish expenses, exclusive flower shows and snooty neighbors comprise the extent of their worries. In the next, ears are tuned for air raid sirens, an eldest son races to join the RAF and a desperate Nazi paratrooper appears in the garden. Mrs. Miniver was indeed propaganda, boosting the Allied cause while the wounds of the Nazis' blitz on London were still fresh, but it's far more subtle than the loud, whitewashed, nationalistic newsreels that usually represent that term. Here, we identify with the squabbles of pre-war life, feel the conflicted emotions of standing up for one's beliefs at great personal risk, linger on the dark terror of a quaking single-family bomb shelter at bedtime. Those latter moments seem to stretch forever; a powerful blend of whimpering children and brave-faced parents that squeezes every last drop of empathy from a very ripe scenario. The Minivers are little more than pawns in this global game, but because the first act is so effectively disarming, it's easy to feel trapped, unprepared, in that bunker right beside them. We fear the worst for their son, who routinely alerts family to his safety by cutting engines during household fly-overs, but this war is no distant specter. By the famously rousing final soliloquy, recited amidst the ruins of a bombed-out chapel, every single member of the community has paid tolls in one form or another. Critically beloved, Mrs. Miniver took home six Academy Awards (including best picture and best director) and was almost immediately adapted to radio for broader dissemination. Even Joseph Goebbels, the infamous Nazi propaganda minister, held it up as a prime example of the kind of cinema he wanted to create with the German media machine. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member it has a good storyline, one memorable character, charm of that time period, good camera views and a great message. however, mrs miniver was so flat and one-dimensionally corny. several parts that were set up to be moving scenes were so predictable/stereotyped that you felt nothing. it was too propagandish. most of the characters were so simple, i didn't like them except the little boy and mrs. bellefron. idk watching it now tho is eerie considering the times and hopefully this isn't foreshadowing. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/15/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Mrs. Miniver

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