MovieChat Forums > Mrs. Miniver (1942) Discussion > Ill-judged segue

Ill-judged segue

posted 18 years ago by Colkitto
9 replies | jump to latest

The change of music at the end was in my view a bad mistake. If they'd gone to the credits with everybody still singing "Onward, Christian Soldiers", they'd have maintained the emotional impact of the funeral scene; moving into "Land of Hope and Glory" in an attempt to stir patriotic feeling (which the sermon and the hymn had already managed pretty effectively) kills the moment. I went from being a bit choked up to laughing out loud.

I suppose the fact that I find "Land of Hope and Glory" ridiculously overblown anyway didn't help. But does anybody else think they should have stuck with the hymn?

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"An inglorious peace is better than a dishonourable war" ~ John Adams

[–] monikaparker 18 years ago

I didn't mind the thing about the change of song as i actually prefer Land of Hope anyway. The thing that made me laugh was the way they made it appear that the ship was talking as they set of for Dunkirk

[–] theludman 18 years ago

I have to agree with you on that...LOL

Where was the captain???

[–] abalone324 14 years ago

@ Monicaparker

What?!? You mean the ship wasn't supposed to be talking? ;)

[–] theludman 18 years ago

When I heard the music change I thought to myself, "Why are they playing 'Pomp and Circumstance'? What a strange choice!" I went to the internet and found that this piece is also called "Land of Hope and Glory", as you knew, and wikipedia states that it is a British patriot song. Under "Trivia" at imdb, director William Wyler "openly admitted that he made the film for propaganda reasons" and Winston Churchill is quoted as saying that "this film had done more for the war effort than a flotilla of destroyers". I'm assuming that's why this piece was chosen for the end.
I totally agree with you that they should have left "Onward Christian Soldiers" playing instead. I'm sure many other Americans have watched and wondered the same thing. Maybe it appeals to those from the UK? Also from Wikipedia: In Britain, Mrs. Miniver was named the top box office attraction of 1942.

[–] Colkitto 18 years ago

Well, I am British...

____________________________
"An inglorious peace is better than a dishonourable war" ~ John Adams

[–] GreyCadillacs 17 years ago

I disagree, I thought it worked

[–] mark-1589 16 years ago

I agree with GreyCadillacs - I think it worked too, but, perhaps like him, I can't quite put my finger on why. One of the odd things about this whole scene is that the great patriotic war speech is given, not by an aristocrat like Lady Beldon, not by a politician, but by a priest. Why was the priest chosen as the person to urge the people, not just to fight, but to fight with everything they had? Was the implication meant to be that this was a holy war. In any case, Onward Christian Soldier fit in quite well in this context. But, the final segue of the scene was for the camera to pan from the alter, up through the hole in the ceiling (emphasizing the war damage), then to jets flying, at which point the more patriotic song, Land of Hope and Glory, is playing. Perhaps the idea was to move the audience from the "sermon" swiftly to patriotic and martial feelings. As this film was intended as a propoganda piece, and this last scene was where the propoganda effort was at its most intense.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] stargazer1701-1 15 years ago

I suppose you had to watch the movie in 1942 and the ‘Onward Christian Soldier’ hymn at the end would have touched you deeply. I agree with Monikaparker. The battle ship was a corny model. It would have been more effective to see a captain with a mega horn giving orders to all the little vessels. The burning plane was a more convincing special effect..

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