SPOILERS!!!
I cry everytime Mrs. Beldon stands up by herself at church and then Clem joins her in singing. I also get a little teary when they show that empty seat next to the choir boys.
This ending is flawless and I remember the first time I watched it and I couldn't stop crying for a half hour. I guess these kind of movies about war really get me going.
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Agreed. The speech is great, but as far as moving me to tears, nothing breaks me down like when Vin goes over to stand by his wife's grandmother and they sing together. Gotta love old movies.
Jesus loves me, this I know...
Same here. Although, at first I thought little Toby was the one who was going to go to Mrs Beldon’s side. I am glad he didn’t because that would have been to cute (and he was probably too young to understand what was going on around him).
Smoke me a kipper. I’ll be back for breakfast
This premiered 7 months after Pearl, the spring of '42. It was as some have stated a propaganda piece(when made) but at that point we had already been attacked so this emotional movie-making must have really hit home in an uncertain time.
It wasn't propaganda. It was an attempt to get
Americans to understand what the British families
were going through during the Battle of Britain.
Americans living in America were separated by
thousands of miles of ocean from the Germans,
going to bed safely every night, going to movies
that weren't interrupted by air raids, and weren't
seeing civilians killed in wholesale lots by German
air raids. Seems to me to very simplistic to say
that a movie is propaganda when the people who say
it don't have a clue as to what it was like to
live in wartime Britain.
It was propaganda. The director said quite plainly that it was meant as propaganda. Churchill also commented on the power of this movie as being better than a fleet of destroyers (or something like that). That to me does not take anything away from this movie at all. Not all propaganda movies are the same type of propaganda Joseph Goebbels was producing.
Also, you contradicted your own statement. It was meant to show America what the British were going through. That's propaganda.
I personally liked the movie very much.
"Whenever Mrs. Kissell breaks wind, we beat the dog."
jporter-6 seems to be laboring under the misimpression that the characterization of Mrs. Miniver as propaganda is meant as a criticism. Propaganda is not inherently bad; it can depend on the purposes for which it is used. This film was meant to stir up patriotism and convince Americans that the fight against the Nazis was a battle for civilization itself.
share I agree. Propaganda can be very powerful, no matter what cause it serves.
I agree in that Mrs. Miniver showed two things -- it gave the British a moral booster when they needed it most and to show America and the allies that Hitler could be beaten with sacrifice, courage, and faith. If some people look at the film as propaganda that is fine with me.
There are several definitions of propaganda available on the internet. Below is the one from the Oxford English Dictionary:
noun
1chiefly derogatory Information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view:
‘he was charged with distributing enemy propaganda’
I would argue that it is almost impossible to make a dramatic movie based on actual events (historical drama) that is not going to be viewed by at least some to contain propaganda. In fact, in usage about historical drama, propaganda is almost synonymous with drama. It verges on folly to label a dramatic film, as opposed to a documentary "propaganda."
Documentaries, on the other hand, made about a war while the war is ongoing or just after It is over, should be propagandistic. This is completely off topic and has more to do with political philosophy. Nevertheless, I argue in favor of wartime documentaries to be entirely on the side of the legitimately established government's position and totally against everybody else, especially all other nations.
I also was not put off by the "propaganda" aspect of the film. In that connection I recommend seeing This Above All, also from 1942, with an excellent Joan Fontaine, also Robert Taylor, showing the effects of the earlier part of WWII on the English people.
shareI also was not put off by the "propaganda" aspect of the film. In that connection I recommend seeing This Above All, also from 1942, with an excellent Joan Fontaine, also Robert Taylor, showing the effects of the earlier part of WWII on the English people.
Mrs. Minver is a propaganda piece, much like This Land is Mine with Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara. Numerous movies and books, like John Steinbeck's The Moon is Down, helped to maintain morale throughout Allied countries (Though The Moon is Down was originally written to stir underground forces in occupied countries to increase their efforts against the Germans).
The sense of hearth and home, family loss and strength under duress are common themes in propaganda. Some of Hollywood's efforts weren't as sophisticated as Mrs. Miniver, but they did deliver messages that enabled Allied countries to overcome the Axis countries of Germany, Japan and Italy.
That the focus is on a Middle Class family, and an affluent one lent great impact. The scenes in the shelter, which begins with Clem look at the search lights across the river, and it seems that despite this the war is so far away. Then, finally it comes crashing in as they realize they might actually die.
shareI completely agree. Although it was Vin who went to sing with her, not Clem.
shareOne of the saddest movie's I've ever seen. Perhaps too sad for me to watch again over the last 10 years, but I want to see this one again. This and Pride of the Yankees made 1942 a sad emotional year.
"For he's a jolly good fellow" sung and the eulogy gave me chills. So much power in a near hopeless situation.
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For whatever reason my mom watches Mrs. Miniver a lot and the only question is at what point near the end I will start crying. Even if I don't know it's on, I know I'm in trouble when I hear the hymn when the choir processes in. Then the vicar's speech, the empty seat in the choir, Clem going over to sing with Carol's grandmother, and "Onward Christian Soldiers" segueing into "Land of Hope and Glory." Yesterday Mom watched the film and I watched the ending and cried. The brilliant thing is it would make a feeling person cry to watch ONLY the ending without having watched the whole film! Today she watched it AGAIN and I said enough is enough, stood in the next room during the ending, and still got tearful. I actually get choked up talking or just thinking about the ending! This is one of the most brilliant endings ever put on film.
share