Mrs. Miniver (1942)

My Review

The Best Picture of 1942 is…..”Mrs. Miniver.” This is the story of a typical middle-class British family from the suburbs of London and how World War II affects their lives. At the center of the family is Kay Miniver, the epitome of a gracious English housewife. Director William Wyler (“Dodsworth” 1936) put together an excellent war drama with incomparable production values that Winston Churchill said did more for the Allied cause than “a flotilla of battleships.”

The cast includes Greer Garson as Kay Miniver, Walter Pidgeon as her husband, Teresa Wright, May Whitty, Reginald Owen, Henry Travers, Rhys Williams, Peter Lawford, Clare Sandars, Christopher Severn, Richard Ney, and Henry Wilcoxon as the Vicar. “Mrs. Miniver” was the highest grossing film of 1942 for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was filmed entirely at the MGM sound stages and studio lots in Culver City.

It was nominated for twelve Academy Awards, winning six – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Garson), Best Supporting Actress (Wright), Best Adapted Screenplay (George Froeschel, James Hilton, Claudine West, Arthur Wimperis), and Best Cinematography/Black-and-White (Joseph Ruttenberg). Non-winners include Best Actor (Pidgeon), Best Supporting Actor (Travers), Best Supporting Actress (Whitty), Best Film Editing, Best Sound Recording, and Best Special Effects.