Mrs. Miniver 1942 - A little dated, but still impressive war-time propaganda movie

IMDB Link
IMDB rating: 7,7

Director: William Wyler
Main Cast: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Teresa Wright, Dame May Whitty, Reginald Owen, Henry Travers, Richard Ney, Henry Wilcoxon

"As Academy Award-winning films go, Mrs. Miniver has not weathered the years all that well. This prettified, idealized view of the upper-class British home front during World War II sometimes seems over-calculated and contrived when seen today. In particular, Greer Garson's Oscar-winning performance in the title role often comes off as artificial, especially when she nobly tends her rose garden while her stalwart husband (Walter Pidgeon) participates in the evacuation at Dunkirk. However, even if the film has lost a good portion of its ability to move and inspire audiences, it is easy to see why it was so popular in 1942 - and why Winston Churchill was moved to comment that its propaganda value was worth a dozen battleships. Everyone in the audience - even English audiences, closer to the events depicted in the film than American filmgoers - liked to believe that he or she was capable of behaving with as much grace under pressure as the Miniver family. The film's setpieces-the Minivers huddling in their bomb shelter during a Luftwaffe attack, Mrs. Miniver confronting a downed Nazi paratrooper in her kitchen, an annual flower show being staged despite the exigencies of bombing raids, cleric Henry Wilcoxon's climactic call to arms from the pulpit of his ruined church-are masterfully staged and acted, allowing one to ever so briefly forget that this is, after all, slick propagandizing.
In addition to Best Picture and Best Actress, Mrs. Miniver garnered Oscars for best supporting actress (Teresa Wright), best director (William Wyler), best script (Arthur Wimperis, George Froschel, James Hilton, Claudine West), best cinematography (Joseph Ruttenberg). Garson's Oscar win and lengthy acceptance speech became a long-running joke in Hollywood - for example, the claims that she stayed at the podium for 45 minutes or more. (Her actual acceptance remarks took around 5 minutes, still the longest-ever Oscar acceptance speech.)
Richard Ney, who plays Greer Garson's son, later married the actress and still later became a successful Wall Street financier. Mrs. Miniver was followed by a 1951 sequel, The Miniver Story, but without the wartime setting the bloom was off the rose." - www.allmovie.com

DVD links:

Pride and prejudice 1940 - Jane Austen in the Hollywood fashion

IMDB Link
IMDB rating: 7,5

Director: Robert Z. Leonard
Main Cast: Greer Garson, Laurence Olivier, Maureen O'Sullivan, Ann Rutherford, Marsha Hunt, Heather Angel, Mary Boland, Edmund Gwenn

"Pride and Prejudice is a moderately faithful re-telling of Jane Austen's best-known novel. The protagonists are appropriately composed in the pre-Victorian England setting, championing Austen's rebellion against what she saw as the excessive emotionalism and romantic world view of the literature of her time. Austen's aim of puncturing holes in the snootiness of upper-middle class figures is retained in Aldous Huxley's screenplay and Robert Leonard's occasionally stiff direction. The unlikely romance of the leads, played conventionally but effectively by the attractive pair of Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson, evolves from contempt to understanding to affection, retaining a modern appeal in its focus on illusory first impressions and the follies of personal pride and class prejudice. Though Austen's novel was set in 1813, the year of its publication, the film version takes place in 1835, reportedly so as to take advantage of the more attractive costume designs of that period. Not surprisingly, a few changes had to be made to mollify the Hollywood censors (eager to find offense in the most innocent of material): the most notable is the character of Mr. Collins (Melville Cooper), transformed from the book's hypocritical clergyman to the film's standard-issue opportunist." - www.allmovie.com

DVD links:

Goodbye Mr. Chips 1939 - Donat gives one of the best performances in movie history

IMDB Link
IMDB rating: 7,7

Director: Sam Wood
Main Cast: Robert Donat, Greer Garson, Terry Kilburn, John Mills, Paul Henreid

"Goodbye, Mr. Chips (based on James Hilton's novel) is another classic from 1939, featuring a performance by Robert Donat that is one of the most fondly remembered in 20th century filmmaking. A crisp and intelligent film in all aspects, it avoids the maudlin sentimentality that often hinders films of this sort. It has held a continuing influence on filmmakers - for example, both Dead Poets Society and Mr. Holland's Opus would seem to be direct spiritual descendants. The film is at its most powerful when evoking an appealing view of the past, when manners and honor were primary values, and when spending one's life in service to others was a noble art. Donat was the recipient of a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of the title character, and the film features the debut performance of a young Greer Garson.While its two remakes have substantial merit, the original version remains the best. It may, however, be too old-fashioned to appeal to some of today's moviegoers." - www.allmovie.com

DVD links: