Mrs Miniver – 1942 – Greer Garson

The Story …

Kay Miniver lives a comfortable life in Belham, a fictional village outside London. Her devoted husband, Clem, is a successful architect.

They have three children: the youngsters Toby and Judy, and an older son, Vin, a student at Oxford University.

As World War II looms, Vin returns from college and meets Carol Beldon, granddaughter of Lady Beldon from nearby Beldon Hall. Despite initial disagreements—mainly contrasting Vin’s idealistic attitude to class differences with Carol’s practical altruism—they fall in love.

As the war comes closer to home, Vin feels he must “do his bit”, and enlists in the Royal Air Force, qualifying as a fighter pilot. He is posted to a base near to his parents’ home and can signal his safe return from operations to his parents by “blipping” his engine briefly (rapidly open and closing the throttle, which results in short, sharp roars of sound) as he flies over the house.

Vin proposes to Carol in front of his family at home, after his younger brother prods him to give a less romantic, but more honest, proposal than he had envisioned.

Together with other boat owners, Clem volunteers to take his motorboat, the Starling, to assist in the Dunkirk evacuation. Early one morning, Kay, unable to sleep as Clem is still away, wanders down to the landing stage. She is startled to discover a wounded German pilot hiding in her garden, and he takes her to the house at gunpoint. She feeds him, calmly disarms him when he collapses, and calls the police. Soon after, Clem returns home, exhausted, from Dunkirk.

Lady Beldon visits Kay to try and convince her to talk Vin out of marrying Carol on account of her granddaughter’s comparative youth at age eighteen. Kay reminds her that she, too, had been young —sixteen, in fact — when she married her late husband.

Lady Beldon concedes defeat, realizing the futility of trying to stop the marriage. Carol marries Vin, becoming another Mrs. Miniver. She knows Vin is likely to be killed in action but proceeds with the relationship anyway.

During an air raid, Kay and her family take refuge in their Anderson shelter in the garden and attempt to keep their minds off the bombing by reading Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

They barely survive as a bomb destroys part of the house. Vin and Carol return from their honeymoon in Scotland, and see the damage to the house but Kay has arranged Vin’s room for them.

The story unfolds …

Credits :

Directed by – William Wyler

Screenplay by : Arthur Wimperis, George Froeschel, James Hilton and Claudine West

Based on : Mrs. Miniver 1939 book by Jan Struther

Produced by : Sidney Franklin

Cinematography : Joseph Ruttenberg

Edited by : Harold F. Kress

Music by : Herbert Stothart and Daniele Amfitheatrof

Production Company : Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Distributed by : Loew’s Inc.

Release Dates : June 4, 1942

Genre : #warmovies – #romancemovies – #dramamovies

Cast :

Greer Garson as Kay Miniver

Walter Pidgeon as Clem Miniver

Teresa Wright as Carol Beldon

Dame May Whitty as Lady Beldon

Reginald Owen as Foley

Henry Travers as Mr. Ballard

Richard Ney as Vin Miniver

Henry Wilcoxon as the Vicar

Christopher Severn as Toby Miniver

Brenda Forbes as Gladys (Housemaid)

Clare Sandars as Judy Miniver

Marie De Becker as Ada

Helmut Dantine as German flyer

John Abbott as Fred

Connie Leon as Simpson

Rhys Williams as Horace

Peter Lawford as a pilot

Charles Bennett as milkman

Harry Allen as William

Billy Bevan as bus conductor

Eula Morgan as Glee club member

Film Information Source :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Miniver

Copyright Protected :

ALL RIGHTS TO THIS MOVIE REMAIN WITH THE OWNERS

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