Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2541 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-02-16
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Black & White, PAL
• Original language: English, German
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 134 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
A movie doesn't win seven Oscars for nothing. A glowing Greer Garson (Best Actress) commands the screen as Mrs Miniver, a middle-class British housewife whose strength holds her family together as World War II literally hits their home. Walter Pidgeon as her architect husband seems to be the prototype for future TV dads in this affecting portrait of love--familial and romantic--during war. But the relationship between Mrs Miniver's college-age son (Richard Ney) and the upper-crust Carol (Best Supporting Actress Teresa Wright) is filled with inherent drama--as the war speeds up their young love, it also has the potential to doom it. The 1942 film, which also won for Best Picture and Best Director, is filled with colourful characters, snappy dialogue and sensational plot twists. Although you spend much of the movie dreading that one of the Minivers will become a casualty of war, when it finally happens, it's not what you anticipated. Exactly what you would expect from a legendary film that lives up to its billing. --Valerie J. Nelson, Amazon.com

Synopsis
A moving drama about a middle-class English family learning to cope with war, told in a series of dramatic vignettes. The family, headed by a lovely and gracious matriarch, endures the departure of the father for the beaches at Dunkirk, the discovery of a wounded Nazi pilot, the death of the daughter-in-law in an air raid, and the entry of the son into the Royal Air Force. The scenes culminate in a morale-boosting final speech that President Franklin Roosevelt ordered printed and air-dropped over war-torn Europe. Condensed from the novel by Jan Struther. Academy Award Nominations: 12, including Best Actor--Walter Pidgeon. Academy Awards: 6, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress--Greer Garson, Best (Adapted) Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress--Teresa Wright.

Customer Reviews

MRS MINIVER IS A CLASSIC!
Mrs Miniver is one of the best classic films in existence. It is a wonderful film with much sentiment and patriotism. Greer Garson, one of the finest "stars" of the 1940's, gives a gripping performance as the title character (and she won an Oscar for it to prove it). The most incredible thing about Mrs Miniver is that it is a WWII movie filmed during WWII, so the outcome of every thing was still unknown. It is even said that Mrs Miniver was one of Winston Churchill's favourite movies...it certainly is one of mine.

A remarkable film
This is a remarkable film, especially when you think it was made in the early 40s and no one knew what the ultimate outcome of the war would be. Particularly poignant was the scene of the family in the Anderson shelter during an air raid. I watched it with my sister whilst on holiday in England, all these things happened over twenty years before we were born and it humbles you to think of the sacrifices that were made for us and how lightly we take our freedom. I wish more people of my generation could see this film.

Muddling through
Sir Winston Churchill said that Mrs Miniver did more for the British war effort than a fleet of destroyers. Released in 1942 when America had not long entered world war 2, it showed the US public the desperate situation that Britain was in, and did much to strengthen the US ressolve to fight and win.

Greer Garson gives a fine oscar winning performance, as a housewife coping with the horrors of a war that was brought home to the civilian population. Her intelligence, natural charm and good humour made her the perfect choice for the role.

Greer was ably assisted by her co-stars. You have to forgive the dodgy English accents of her husband (Walter Pidgeon), her elder son (Richard Ney)and his sweetheart (Teresa Wright). It does not spoil their good work. Most of the other main players were Brits, including Dame May Whitty, who gives her usual flawless performance, and Mrs Miniver's two younger children. Her younger son in particular, stands out as perhaps the most likable precocious child on film.

This film has the power to entertain people who were born long after he war had ended. It is just the film to watch on a wet Sunday afternoon.