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Kay Miniver (Greer Garson) is in London shopping on a summer day in 1939, and she's most excited about a new hat that she couldn't pass up. On her way back to Belham, the Thames Valley village in which she lives, she's summoned to the office of the station master Mr. Ballard (Henry Travers), who wants to show her the new rose he's grown for the upcoming annual flower show. Kay is stunned by the beauty of the rose, and then hears Ballard say with her permission, he wants to name it Mrs. Miniver. Kay is flattered and absolutely gives the OK. That night, Kay feels slightly guilty over buying the expensive hat, while her husband Clem (Walter Pidgeon) feels the same way since he kinda bought a new car today. They both in casual conversation drop hints and eventually confess their respective purchases, laughing as they do.
The next day, the Miniver family (Clem, Kay and their two younger children) welcome home their oldest child Vin (Richard Ney), who has returned home for the summer holiday from Oxford. Back at home they all receive a visit from Carol Beldon (Teresa Wright), granddaughter of local aristocrat Lady Beldon (Dame May Whitty). Carol comes to ask Kay to influence Ballard to withdraw his rose from competing against Lady Beldon's in the flower show, saying she wins every year and it's very important to her as it's really the only hobby she has these days. Vin rather pompously rails against this, saying this is the problem with society. The whole "haves versus have nots" argument. After Vin and Carol argue, Vin leaves, and his parents apologize. Carol though doesn't have any problem with his protest and says to never mind her request, it wasn't right for her to ask in the first place.
At a dance later that night, Carol is talking with Clem and Kay when she receives a secret message from Vin asking her to meet him outside. The two talk and later dance together, much to the surprise of Clem and Kay. Carol and Vin confess their mutual attraction and promise to write to each other while Carol and Lady Beldon are away in Scotland for the next several months.
Some weeks later, concern over the fall of Poland dominates conversations within the village. That is, when everyone isn't talking about the flower show. This must really be a big deal there because everyone's always talking about it like it's the Second Coming, and with war creeping ever-so-closer there's concern that the show may have to be postponed. Horrors!
At church on a Sunday, Lady Beldon is in her regular section, and Carol is with her. The Minivers nearby notice they've returned early. Vin and Carol give each other a quick smile. The smiling disappears when the vicar's (Henry Wilcoxon) sermon is interrupted by news that England is now at war with Germany. While the rest of the Miniver family returns home, Vin goes to the Beldon estate to be sure Carol and Lady Beldon are adequately prepared. Vin is going to join the Royal Air Force, but before leaving he and Carol agree that they're officially a relationship, and have their first kiss. Vin then meets Lady Beldon, who balks only at his name being Miniver since that's the name of the rose she's going to be competing against at the flower show. (Wow, these people don't fuck around about this flower show, do they?) Air raid sirens blare. Lady Beldon doesn't take them seriously, but Vin convinces her she should do so. Meanwhile, the Minivers all huddle in their bomb shelter until the all clear signal is heard.
Eight months pass. Vin has left school and joined the Royal Air Force. In the village pub, the locals discuss the news of a German pilot who parachuted out of his plane and may be hiding near the village. That night, Vin proposes to Carol, much to the delight of his parents. Immediately thereafter, Vin gets a phone call and is ordered back to his airbase. He promises every time he flies over the village, he'll cut his engine so his parents know he's OK.
Clem is a member of the Thames River patrol. He's awakened late one night and told to meet at the pub, as are other local boat owners. When at the pub, they are all told to take their boats to a certain location and then they will be given further instructions. Those instructions are that they are all needed to evacuate stranded British soldiers from Dunkirk, France. This takes several days, and Kay learns of the situation in the newspaper. One night, she's having trouble sleeping as she's worried about Clem, so she walks down into the garden area. She finds the wounded German pilot hiding out there. The pilot draws a gun and demands food and a coat. Weakened from his wounds, the pilot eventually collapses and Kay is able to take his revolver and call for help. Before the police arrive, though, the German pilot bitterly tells Kay that England will soon fall. She slaps him. After the police take the pilot away, it's sunrise, and Clem returns home. Kay is exhausted but thrilled to see her husband. Clem is likewise.
Kay convinces Lady Beldon that Vin and Carol should wed. Lady Beldon eventually agrees. So Vin and Carol wed and then go on their honeymoon. One night during this, the air raid sirens blare and the Minivers retreat to their bomb shelter. This one's no false alarm though, as the family all huddle together during the loud and violent ordeal, realizing at one point that their house has been hit. Some days later, Carol and Vin return from their honeymoon and are shocked by the bomb damage, but Kay and Clem shrug off the partial destruction of their home and look forward to going to the annual flower show. Because dammit, who cares about war and having holes in the roof? WE HAVE FUCKING FLOWERS TO JUDGE!
So here it is. Bigger than the World Series. Bigger than the Oscars. Bigger than "The Voice"'s season finale. It's flower show time! It's held on the Beldon estate so Lady Beldon is the emcee, and she gets the slip of paper from the judges proclaiming the winner. The paper has her name on it. Kay helps her to realize that the judges chose her rose over Ballard's because of her position in the village, and Lady Beldon goes up to the microphone and announces that the winning flower is the Mrs. Miniver rose of Mr. Ballard. Ballard is stunned but graciously accepts the award from Lady Beldon.
Just as the show is ending, the air raid sirens blare once again. The villagers take refuge in the cellars of the Beldon estate while Kay and Carol drive Vin to join his squadron. On their way home they witness fighter planes in a dogfight above, and Kay stops the car for their safety. They see the German plane crash as it continues to shoot bullets. After a moment, Kay sees that Carol has been wounded by the shots from the plane and races her back home. Unfortunately though, the wounds are too serious, and Carol succumbs shortly afterwards.
The next Sunday morning, the villagers gather in the damaged church. The vicar delivers a powerful sermon, speaking of several who have died as a result of the recent air raids. In addition to Carol and a couple of others, the vicar says Mr. Ballard's name as well, who just an hour earlier had won the Beldon Cup at the flower show. As the vicar reads a psalm, Vin sees Lady Beldon at her usual pew, now solo for the first time. He joins her and comforts her, united in shared mourning, and the congregation sings "Onward, Christian Soldiers" as more British planes take to the air above them, visible through a hole in the church roof.
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Hey, you know what this movie needed? A flower show.....Henry Wilcoxon and William Wyler rewrote the ending sermon the night before it was shot. The speech made a huge impact in boosting wartime morale with soldiers and civilians, and it actually came to be known as the Wilcoxon Speech. Leaflets were printed in various languages and dropped over enemy and occupied territories, and President Franklin Roosevelt ordered it played both on radio and in theaters for propaganda purposes.....Greer Garson (age 39) and Richard Ney (age 27) fell in love during filming and got married in 1943. They divorced in 1947.....Garson and Walter Pidgeon made a total of eight films together. This was their second. A sequel to this one, 1950's The Miniver Story, was their seventh.
Personally, I didn't like the film. I think it's incredibly dated, incredibly stuffy, incredibly schmaltzy and for the most part, incredibly dull. With that said, I can totally see how this film was as well-received as it was in 1942. It was a different era, and with the "war spirit" in full force back then, it should come as no surprise to see that the film garnered a dozen Oscar nominations, with 6 wins. The non-winning categories were Film Editing, Sound, Special Effects (known today as Visual Effects), Supporting Actor (Travers) and Lead Actor (Pidgeon). There were two nominations within the Supporting Actress category, with Whitty losing out to co-star Wright. The other Oscar wins came in the categories of Black-and-White Cinematography, Screenplay, Lead Actress (Garson), Director (Wyler) and Best Picture. That top prize was won over The Invaders, Kings Row, The Magnificent Ambersons, The Pied Piper, The Pride of the Yankees, Random Harvest, The Talk of the Town, Wake Island and Yankee Doodle Dandy. Amazingly, the only other nominated film up there I've seen thus far is that last one, so I can't really gauge what I feel should have won, but with America fully entrenched into the war as it was back then, all these other films never had a chance. Mrs. Miniver is not a film that works for me today, but it was absolutely the right movie at the right time when it came to Oscars.
I always like not having to see boring movies after I read your blog!
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