The Best Years Of Our Lives 1946

The Film:

Before watching I basically only knew this film as the one that stopped It's A Wonderful Life from winning. (Although whether or not George Bailey and co ever stood a chance against the other three nominees is debatable - it only became a classic through TV syndication much later).

I knew the basic plot - servicemen return from the war and face heartwarming struggles in small town America. I also knew that one of them had hooks instead of hands, was played by a real serviceman with a real disability and that this was also a heartwarming struggle in itself. And I knew that it was filmed immediately after the end of the war.

Forgive me for being cynical (for the third time in as many films) but the whole thing sounded as though it was going to be patriotic slush. And I wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy sitting through nearly three hours of it.

Again (for the second year running this time) I hadn't really clocked on to who the Director was. William Wyler saw Mrs Miniver and co into the war in expert fashion - could he manage to see the residents of Boone City out at the other end in similarly impressive style?

The Ceremony:

Jack Benny presented again this year - at the Shrine Auditorium on March 13th 1947.

I can't find a great deal of information about the ceremony this time - although I imagine it was similarly glitzy to the previous year.

The nominations were streamlined this year, with no category having more than five nominations. This practice continued for several decades.




Other Notable Winners That Night:

Fab photo - one Oscar for each prosthetic!

Best Years of Our Lives took seven competitive awards and two special awards. So not many others got a look in that night! Frederic March got Best Actor (very well deserved - I'll even give it to him over Jimmy Stewart!) and non-actor veteran Harold Russell remains the only person to ever get two Oscars for the same role. He won an honorary award for "bringing hope and courage to fellow veterans" and then, to everyone's surprise, also picked up Best Supporting Actor.

The Actress awards went elsewhere - to Olivia de Havilland (still with us aged 101 at time of writing!) and Anne Baxter (who we'll be hearing "all about" in a few years time....)

Tom and Jerry won again, with a cartoon that is often voted as one of the greatest ever made. I have very strong memories of this one from my childhood and it was lovely watching it again when I found it on Youtube:

Best Song:

I love this one - On The Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe from The Harvey Girls. The film is in glorious Technicolor and the whole number is about nine fabulous minutes, but the only clip I can bring you is three minutes in black and white.....which is better than nothing.

What We Could/Should Have Been Watching:

George Bailey - I'll love this film til the day I die!

One of my favourite films of all time was among the nominations this year. So, naturally, my vote would have to go to It's A Wonderful Life. It's certainly the one that has stood the test of time - and is possibly the most-watched today of all the nominees from the 1940s (even more than Casablanca!)

The other three nominees are less classic - Henry V (which will get recognition of sorts two years later), The Yearling (more post-war sentiment) and The Razor's Edge (one I've not seen, but it sounds interesting - though possibly as dark and brooding as last year's winner so not a contender).

Not on the list, but still worth a mention is another personal favourite, Brief Encounter. It had three nominations (including Director and Actress) but not one for Best Picture. Which is a shame.

It's A Wonderful Life could have probably given some of the earlier winners of the 40s a run for their money, but something more specifically post-war and hard-hitting was always going to win out. And I can't begrudge Best Years Of Our Lives for that!


Our Verdict:

One of each - both in terms of the force they were in and
the economic circumstance they come back to.

The opening scenes show our three lead characters (soldier, sailor and airman) heading back together to their hometown, huddled together in a fighter plane. They share a smoke and a few stories and we find out what happened to Homer's hands. Then they are driven through their town being dropped off in turn with their families, pointing out the places they remember from before the war. It's all very mid-west mid-century America and verging a little on schmaltz and a little on gung-ho patriotism. My thoughts twenty minutes in are mainly despair that we've still got another two and a half hours of this to go through.

However, pretty much literally at that point, things start to change. From the moment they are reunited with their families I was sucked into all three intertwining stories.

No hands - no CGI

Homer is from a nice suburban family and engaged to the girl (literally) next door. His struggle is to deal with his doubts and insecurities brought on by his disability - particularly about whether his fiancee is staying with him out of love or pity. Russell deserved both his Oscars for the matter-of-fact way in which he deals with the practicalities, coupled with the portrayal of his psychological pain. He must have helped a great many real life families that were in this situation to open up and deal with what they were going through. A really impressive depiction of disability in such an early film.

The Stephensons - not unlike the Minivers. 

Al is a bank manager and is clearly very well off, as you can see from his apartment. He has a wife (played brilliantly by Myrna Loy) and two teenaged children (one of whom is Teresa Wright - being given a happier ending than she was in Mrs Miniver). They are a happy family and everything is set up for Al to slot right back into civilian life- but he struggles to readjust and go back to what now seems a far less honourable role in life. He takes to giving out loans to ex-servicemen against bank policy - and he also takes to the bottle.

Probably the saddest and most dramatic story is that of airman Fred (surprisingly the only one of the three roles not to be Oscar nominated). He has clearly loved his time in the war and has been honoured several times for his efforts as a master bomber. But it turns out that he is from a much poorer family than the others and has no qualifications and (because bombers aren't needed any more) no skills or experience. He also has a young wife who he hardly knows and who appears to have married the uniform not the man. And he's suffering from what we would now call PTSD.

Reunion at Uncle Butch's

These well rounded and well played characters and their families make for a story that is brilliantly scripted, expertly paced, hard hitting, heart warming - and also, at times, very humorous. There are a few risky (for the Hays era) twists to the story and it manages to tie itself up into the happy ending that both the era and the subject matter required without ever becoming too sentimental. I thought Frederic March was particularly brilliant - but they were all good. And I was wrong. This is a brilliant film! It has really stood the test of time and still has some relevant things to say - but above all, I really enjoyed it. So much so that it may be only my own personal sentiment and nostalgia that is stopping me from completely conceding that Boone City deserved its Oscar over Bedford Falls.

The Lost Weekend 1945

The Film:

I knew very little about this film before I watched it the other day and I'd never had even the slightest inclination to watch it.

I knew of its existence, and that it was about an alcoholic. I knew it was the first post-war winner and one of the first Hollywood movies to tackle a big social issue and still be a big box office success. And I knew who starred in it and who directed it (more about him later) because such information is useful for quizzes and the like.

(Actually, that sounds like quite a lot of knowledge, but it really isn't....)

What I have discovered since is that both the alcohol industry and the Temperance Society were dead set against the film being made and released - one concerned that it would stop people drinking, the other that it would encourage it!

Also, before making this film, Ray Milland was a fairly lightweight matinee idol type actor. He was told that the part would be the death of his career. He wasn't bothered about that but worried about whether he was a good enough actor to pull it off. He took a chance......and won an Oscar!

I wasn't particularly looking forward to watching the film. I was expecting it to be dark, depressing, overwrought and not that interesting. But I'd failed to really register who the Writer/Director was.......!


The Ceremony:

This year's programme

A glitzy post-war ceremony was held at Grauman's on March 7th 1946 and was hosted by James Stewart and - yes, you've guessed it - Bob Hope.

It was a star-studded night of glamour where, as well as that year's awards, the plaster statuettes from the war years were replaced with the usual gold plated ones (so Barry Fitzgerald's Oscar got his head back!)

Performers included Frank Sinatra and Kathryn Grayson, Presenters included Ginger Rogers, Ingrid Bergman and Frank Capra.

(In fact, I need to make a note of the date and location - this could be a good time machine moment for me!)

The glamorous, celebratory nature of the evening made it even more impressive that a film with such dark subject matter took home four of the Big Five


Other Notable Winners That Night:

Joan being gracious from her sick bed.....

I finally get chance to use this Joan Crawford photo again, this time in its proper setting. Twelve years after her fabulous performance in Grand Hotel, she won Best Actress for Mildred Pierce. She's in bed because she apparently had pneumonia and couldn't attend the ceremony. (Rumour has it that she only took to her bed in a sulk because she thought she wouldn't win - either way, it's a good bit of acting!)

The other big four Oscars all went to The Lost Weekend (meaning, among other things, that Hitch lost out yet again!). Tom and Jerry won the Animation award again and, despite the war being over, the Documentary nominees still had a predominantly wartime theme.

A "Special" award was given to a short film called "The House I Live In" which starred Frank Sinatra and was made to counter anti-Semitism after the end of the war. Considering the Best Picture winner a few years later, it would appear that the message was very much needed! Here it is as a great slice of nostalgia - with an unfortunately relevant message for today!:

Best Song:

A lesser known Rogers and Hammerstein song from a lesser known musical, State Fair. It's quite a fun musical and it's all up on Youtube if you look for it, but it isn't really remembered much these days - far more low key and of its time than the other R&H films. There were plenty of musicals out in 1945, but no real stand out songs. And this one (sung by Jeanne Craine) is nice enough:

What We Could/Should Have Been Watching:

Well, we definitely shouldn't have been watching The Bells of St Mary's. Lovely as it is, it's pretty much the same as the film that won last year (with the addition of Ingrid Bergman). The other three nominees this year are all classics in slightly different ways - Mildred Pierce, Spellbound and Anchors Aweigh. Of them all, the only one I've not seen is Mildred Pierce (and I should probably fix that at some point). Anchors Aweigh is overly long and ever-so-slightly cheesy and is not a personal favourite of this MGM Musicals fan - but it does have Frankie and Gene and Jerry Mouse, which just about redeems it. I love Spellbound though - classic Hitchcock with a fantastically weird Salvador Dali dream sequence.

With apologies to Hitch (and Dali), having now seen The Lost Weekend, I'm more than happy to give it my vote - as much for what it doesn't do, in comparison to it's much "bigger" rivals as for what it does do.....


Our Verdict:

Don and Nat and a bottle of Rye

I should have realised - a film written and directed by Billy Wilder is going to be a witty, interesting and enjoyable film, whatever the subject matter. It's nowhere near the laugh-a-minute that my favourite Wilder film is (Some Like It Hot) and it's not as intriguing and alluring as Double Indemnity. But this is a very good film indeed!

The subject matter is dark and it is tackled with brutal honesty. But Don Birnam is charming, witty, believable and incredibly likeable - and that's really what makes the difference.

Warm Wet Circles

The combination of the lines he is given to say and the way that Ray Milland delivers them is just brilliant. Don with a few drinks in him is a bit of a monster and he behaves so badly that it would be easy for him to either become unintentionally comical or just totally unsympathetic. But he never does.

The script is great - Don is a writer and therefore an educated man and a clever wordsmith. His exchanges with Nat and Gloria at the bar are never exactly comedic (there's too much darkness to the story for that) but they are witty and engaging and made me smile.

Similarly, the explanation that the Irish Pawnbrokers also shut shop for Yom Kippur in solidarity with their Jewish colleagues brought a wry smile (and a note to self to remember that fact for future use with yr10!) followed by the dawning realisation of Don's plight - for which I felt both sympathy and a bit of pain.

It's behind you!

The "Citizen Kane effect" is very much in evidence in the direction of the film, which really helps in the apartment scenes. The angles used really show Don's panic when he's searching for his hidden whiskey and heighten the tension in several scenes set in the apartment.

The writing and directing is superb (Wilder deserved both those Oscars!). Ray Milland's acting is really quite extraordinary. He's well supported by a cast that literally do just that - support him but let the whole film be about him.

The New York setting is very apt and is used really effectively - and the fact that they shot so much of the film out on location in NYC adds something else to the whole feel of the film.

Helen and that coat - enough reason for redemption?

I was expecting to, at most, "appreciate" this film for the groundbreaking issues-based film that it was. I was also dreading it being a dated, over-acted melodramatic potboiler that left me cold.

I was wrong on all counts. I'm writing this five days later and I'm not just thinking back to what I watched, I'm "feeling" back to it. It's not knocked me sideways or zoomed right up my list of all time greats (like some of the later winners did when I first saw them) but it has definitely stayed with me this week. Some of that is due to Ray Milland - the rest is pure Billy Wilder!

(Oh, and as it turns out, the alcohol industry and the temperance lobby were both sort of right and both sort of wrong. We finished the film at around the time on a Saturday that one of us would usually suggest a gin or a glass of wine, but it didn't feel like the right response at the time. So I had a coffee instead. And then opened a bottle of wine about an hour later.....)

Going My Way 1944

The Film:

This one is going to be an interesting one to watch again. It's a childhood classic for me (along with its sequel, The Bells Of St Mary's) but it has been years since I last saw it.

My Catholic upbringing was far less Song of Bernadette and far more Father O'Malley and for that I am eternally grateful. My Dad will have only been about six or seven when Going My Way was first out in the UK, so it may have been on second release that he really got into it, but it was a nostalgic favourite of his. He knew a few Fr Fitzgibbons and had been inspired by a couple of Fr O'Malleys - and when he was still wondering whether he was called to the priesthood (before Mum came along - Deo Gratias!) he would have seen O'Malley as a bit of a role model.

So I know this film is going to make me miss my Dad. But I'm also bracing myself for a sentimental pile of old twaddle, with a few songs thrown in. Whether or not I enjoy the experience, it's going to have to go some to convince me that it deserved seven Oscars!


The Ceremony:

The programme for the event

The Ceremony was held at Grauman's Theatre on March 15th 1945 and Bob Hope was back at the helm.

It was the first time that the whole event was broadcast nationally and the whole thing lasted 70 minutes (aaah, those were the days!). It was also the first time that Best Picture was limited to five nominees - a rule that has only recently been changed.

Going My Way pretty much dominated the evening, with ten nominations and seven wins. Barry Fitzgerald was nominated in both the acting categories (winning the Supporting award). The rules were subsequently changed to stop this happening again.


Other Notable Winners That Night:

Barry to Ingrid - "I've won the award now, you can play my
part in the sequel. Just turn him into a nun!"

Among Going My Way's seven awards were acting Oscars for both priests - Bing and Barry. Ingrid Bergman won the first of her three awards for Gaslight (a fact that got me a pointless answer on Pointless the other day!)

Going My Way also got Director, Screenplay, Story (no idea why those two were separate awards, but there you go!) and Song. As producer, director and story originator, that means Leo McCarey took home three awards that night. 

Marvellous Margaret!

As we were still in war time, the awards were made of plaster painted gold. They were replaced the following year - which was just as well, because Barry Fitzgerald apparently decapitated his a few weeks later whilst practising his golf swing!

I have to also make mention here of the only Oscar recipient of the night (possibly the only attendee of the night, unless Olivia de H was there) who is still alive today. The fabulous Margaret O'Brien won a juvenile award that night, partly as a result of her stealing every scene she was in for Meet Me In St Louis. That almost makes up for the Trolley Song losing out to those priests!


Best Song:

This was the first time (of only five in total to date!) that the Best Song winner came from the Best Picture winner. It beat a rather long list which included The Trolley Song from Meet Me In St Louis (which would have got my vote) and it's a lovely little song.... I couldn't find footage from the film, but this is a much older Bing performing it - it was one he continued to sing right through his career:

What We Could/Should Have Been Watching:

Fred and Barbara - too much reality for wartime America?

I've only seen one of the other four Best Picture nominees. So I can't comment on Gaslight, Since You Went Away or Wilson. But Double Indemnity is widely regarded as the best Film Noir ever - and it's worthy of the claim. Billy Wilder doing Raymond Chandler with Barbara Stanwyck. What's not to like?

The Academy made it up to Billy Wilder the following year - and it was clear that, as war raged on in the real world, people didn't want politics or melodrama but something far more heartwarming. With priests and singing.


Our Verdict:

"Priest of the Year"?

There's a moment about halfway through the film, after Fr Chuck's music fails to sell, where his friend tells him "Schmaltz isn't selling this year". Well, I beg to differ. There's a lot of it here being sold by the bucketload. But that's no bad thing.

After the satire and cynicism of Casablanca, we are right back to heartwarming, hope-filled Hollywood feel-good family fare to get us through to the end of the war. I loved it when I was younger - and I have to say I still really enjoyed it this time round. I admit that I'm more tolerant than most to a cheesy musical, to a heavy dose of Bing and generally to stories about Catholics and/or teenagers. So maybe my review will be a little biased - but so what!

Random opera singer with church choir (including Andy Williams,
apparently - we think he might be the one just behind Bing!)

First of all - the film was (like many of its day) about half an hour too long. And there are two things I would have cut down to size to get rid of that half hour. First of all, there is an overlong subplot about an eighteen year old (her age so important to the appropriateness of the whole thing that it gets repeated several times!) who falls for the mortgage man's son, who then goes off to war. It helps the mortgage man's heart to melt and save the church, but otherwise takes up too much time. Also, there is the showcasing of Met Opera star Rise Stevens, leading to a random bit of Carmen and a few other moments where she should have just let Bing and the boys do the singing. Again, she advances the plot by being the reason the music publishers give Fr Chuck another chance - but some editing would have helped!

The old and the new - but their hearts were in the same place!

The actual setting of the film is not as cheesy-schmaltzy as it appears at first glance. This is a tough part of New York, with people struggling for money and gangs of boys out on the street with nothing much to do (except steal turkeys!). There are characters with some hope, lots of faith but seemingly no charity. And some with plenty of charity, even if the first two elude them.

We struggled to not make Father Ted references at inopportune moments (they have their Mrs Doyle, among other things) but as two Catholics watching this together we were both impressed by the authenticity of the way the priests and various parishioners were portrayed. Obviously, it was from a time when the Church was still a hero rather than a villain - but not in any unbelievable way. And I found that rather refreshing!

Will ye have a drink Father? Ah go on go on go on.....

Bing is great as Fr Chuck O'Malley. I love Bing anyway, so I'm easily pleased, but he's really believable in the role and incredibly likeable. However, Barry Fitzgerald absolutely steals the whole show as Fr Fitzgibbons. He's funny, sympathetic, gets all the best lines (just as he did in How Green Was My Valley!) - and his character is given an ending that only the most cynical would have a problem with. They both won Oscars for their performances. Bing was just being Bing (he would have deserved it more if he had won for The Country Girl ten years later!) but Barry Fitzgerald was superb and is now a strong contender for Actor of the Decade!

Frs O'Malley and Fitzgibbons are a great pairing, providing the real heart to the film (and stopping it from getting slushily out of control) - if my Dad knew priests like this in his formative years, then that explains a lot!

Casablanca 1943

The Film:

Here we go with another classic. This one has topped loads of lists, has been parodied and tributed (is that a word?) on numerous occasions, and just happens to be one of Andy's favourite films. It's been a few years since we've seen it, so it will no doubt be a delight to watch it all over again for the umpteenth time. (I've not seen it quite as many times as Rebecca - but not far off).

It's another wartime film, albeit one with a very different tone to last year's winner, Mrs Miniver. Apparently an earlier version of the script had been doing the rounds for several years with several people liking it but no one being overly keen to actually make it. The day after Pearl Harbour was the day that the first steps were made to put the film into production and the rest, as they say, is history!

There are many things that could be said about the background and production of the film, but I think my favourite bit of Trivia is about how international the cast was. There are only three American actors in the cast - Rick, Sam and the young Bulgarian wife. Claude Rains was an incredibly British Frenchman, and everyone else used their own authentic and varied European accents. Even Nazi Major Strasser was played by a German - one who had a Jewish wife and, therefore, a deep dislike of the Nazi regime. To pull all those people together to produce a film like this in wartime is pretty impressive!

Funnily enough, the morning after we watched Casablanca, I was watching an episode of Frasier that both commented on and parodied the film. Including Frasier being left with an accidentally abandoned cat called Louis. Queue the line......

The Ceremony:

An actual ticket for the ceremony!

Lots of firsts (and a last) this year as the Oscars took a big step towards the sort of ceremony we are
used to today. For the first time it was held in a large public venue rather than the small cabaret/banquet set up of previous years. It took place on March 2nd 1944 at Grauman's Chinese Theater (the one with all the handprints outside!). Free passes were given out to service personnel in uniform. And the whole thing was presented by.....nope, Jack Benny. The whole ceremony - which took about 30 minutes - was broadcast internationally for the first time. And, finally, Supporting Actors and Actresses got a proper statuette rather than just a plaque!

It was also the last time for 65 years that there would be more than five films nominated for Best Picture. Which might make things a little easier for the next 65 entries....


Other Notable Winners That Night:

Paul Lukas and Jennifer Jones

Despite nominations for Bogie and Claude (and Bergman being nominated for For Whom The Bell Tolls) there were no acting awards for Casablanca. The main awards went to Paul Lukas and (odds on favourite) Jennifer Jones. Charles Coburn must have been really good in the role he won Supporting Actor for, in order to beat Claude Rains in one of the best supporting roles of all time (but maybe I'm biased).

The war theme continued again this year in the documentary categories, with both the short and the feature length awards going to films about the events of the time. The Animation award was also given to a film with a wartime film - the first Tom and Jerry (of many) to win the Oscar. Here it is (or at least some of it!):

Best Song:

I didn't recognise the title (You'll Never Know) or the film (Hello Frisco Hello) but I recognised the tune when I played it. And it gives me the chance to post a bit of the wonderful Alice Faye. Gorgeous voice, great comic and dramatic actress. And best of all, she quit while she was ahead, had a nice happy quiet life and lived to a good age!

Required viewing for all good Catholic
school children of a certain age!

What We Could/Should Have Been Watching:

Of course it's right that we were watching Casablanca. It's stood the test of time for so many reasons
and still gets watched regularly today. However, apparently the hype beforehand was all surrounding Song of Bernadette and For Whom The Bell Tolls. They both had more nominations than Casablanca, and Song of Bernadette won four Oscars to Casablanca's three. (For Whom The Bell Tolls won one.)


Our Verdict:

Play It Sam - just not "again"!

It's definitely more difficult to review a film that I already knew well before the challenge (along with most other film lovers in the world!). There's very little to be said about Casablanca that hasn't already been said - including in over a thousand reviews on IMDB.

However, it did feel different this time. There is something to be said for watching these earlier films with a much greater sense of their context. The war time winners reveal an interesting pattern. If we go with December '41 as being the significant start of the war for Americans, then so far we've had heartwarming British nostalgia with a resilient edge (and Walter Pidgeon), blatant but effective stiff-upper-lip we're-all-in-this-together rousing and poignant propaganda (and Walter Pidgeon). Next year we get more heartwarming pap with a message of love and peace (and Bing Crosby) before we move on to some grittier post-war "issues" films (and a random bit of Shakespeare) to see us to the Technicolor 50s.

Low maintenance!

So, slap bang in the middle of the war, where does Casablanca fit into this pattern? It's a contemporary war film. It definitely doesn't like Nazis (even the German actor playing a Nazi hated Nazis) and yet it's doing something quite different that the other wartime winners. And something that, to me, feels very much ahead of its time. It's satire. There's plenty of comedy, wrapped up in tragedy, revealing further layers of comedy and tragedy. It pokes fun at the systems, events, institutions and individuals all playing (or sitting out) their part in the war effort and it does so in a subtle but cutting way, without ever being dismissive of the real pain that some of them are going through.

Of course, it's also a classic doomed love story with a perfect ending (and a wonderful way of pushing the Hays Code to its absolute limits - we know what they were up to in Paris, we know she was married, but lets just play innocent and deny everything if Joe Breen comes sniffing around.....).

The early signs of a beautiful friendship.....

However, this time around I pretty much ignored the Rick-Ilsa-Victor stuff and concentrated more on the politics. And my absolute favourite character, Louis. He doesn't have all the best lines, but he delivers his better than anyone. I love him!

The constant parodying of Casablanca over the years, coupled with the mere existence of Allo Allo means that we were finding jokes where there weren't any (and were quoting When Harry Met Sally rather a lot). However, when I really think about it, in the scenes with Louis I was reminded more of Blackadder than anything else. I know it's the wrong war, but the way Claude Rains delivers many of his lines with a wry, knowing glint and very little shame in playing the system and getting what he can out of the situation, reminded me of the way Rowan Atkinson plays Captain Blackadder. And, ultimately, they both can't help being a little bit decent deep down.

"Round up the usual quotes...."

The sad situation that the Bulgarian couple find themselves in, and the unhappy end of Peter Lorre's character give depth and weight to events surrounding the love triangle - and I think the only really unsatisfactory thing about viewing the film from this angle is that Victor Lazlo is, well, just a bit rubbish really, isn't he? Thing is, when all you are doing is rooting for Rick and Ilsa, then it sort of helps to think Victor is a bit wet. But when you're really trying to grasp the idea that this man can inspire hoardes of revolutionaries and might just change the world for the better (as long as Ilsa is by his side) then he needs to have a bit more about him than an aloof and wistful manner and a smug way of saying everything as though it's a deeply philosophical announcement on the state of the nation.

Well, anyway - it appears that I did have plenty to say about this film after all. It stands up to repeated viewing. It can be interpreted in lots of different ways. It's still one of the best screenplays ever. And I'm still (pleasantly) amazed that the Academy went for it over Song of Bernadette, given their generally conservative tastes and the public mood at the time. Maybe all they saw was a love story and an anti-Nazi addition to the war effort. Thankfully there is much more to it than that!

Mrs Miniver 1942

The Film:

The poster states that it's "The Greatest Movie Ever Made". Well, it's not, by anyone's standards. But the claim is a good example of the wartime hype that was going on in 1942-43 that led to both the making of this film and its subsequent recognition in the form of six Oscars.

The film itself has an interesting production history and is a really good example of subtle (yet very unsubtle) propaganda. It is based on a book that was published in 1940 - just after the outbreak of war in Europe. The book was almost immediately optioned and the film was already in pre-production before the end of the year. Parts of the script were re-written time after time throughout 1941 to reflect changing US attitudes towards the war, and much of it was filmed before the US joined the war in December. The scene with the only German character in the whole film (the shot down airman) was reshot in January 1942 to be a bit more anti-German, and the final rousing speech was one of the last bits to be filmed.

So - blatant propaganda, aimed squarely at US audiences (although very British in its story!) with a plea in the final frames for everyone to buy War Bonds. Churchill apparently said it did more for the war effort than a flotilla of destroyers and even Goebbels admired the film as a refined and effective piece of propaganda - managing to stir up anti-German feelings without ever saying a word against Germany.

Having never seen it before I admit that we were both very skeptical of how well a very "of-its-time" piece of American war propaganda set in a quaint English village would stand up to a 21st Century viewing!

The Ceremony:

Bob Hope and Oscar. Starting to become a
permanent double act

The 15th Academy Awards took place on March 4th 1943 at the Cocoanut Grove. Bob Hope hosted
(again).

Greer Garson gave a six minute long acceptance speech (about 30 seconds of it is on Youtube and she seems to cover everything, so I can't imagine what the rest of it was about). It remains the longest ever and is likely to do so now that the music comes in and winners are unceremoniously swept off the stage after about 90 seconds these days!

Also, it was the first and only time that there was a four-way tie for an award. This was for Best Documentary. To be fair, there was a very long list of nominees and a very clear overriding theme amongst them (more of that below!). Among the winners were films directed by Ford and Capra, who already had several awards each to their name.


Other Notable Winners That Night:

Greer and Jimmy

Mr Miniver won six awards - including Director and both of the Actress awards (Greer Garson and Teresa Wright). James Cagney took Best Actor for Yankee Doodle Dandy, and gave a far shorter speech than his counterpart!

Wartime themes were everywhere - the four Documentary winners all had this in common. As did the Animation winner - a Donald Duck cartoon called Der Fuehrer's Face (Donald's only Oscar!). Some thought the cartoon was a bit tasteless and there was definitely no real place for it after the war, so it was out of circulation and unavailable for several decades. But it's now on Youtube, so judge for yourself:

Best Song:

A real classic this year. Internationally I think this still counts as the best selling single of all time and it's as ubiquitous as previous winner Over The Rainbow. I think familiarity breeds contempt a bit with this one, but I still love Holiday Inn (controversial Lincoln number and all!) and re-watch it pretty regularly - so I get to sing along to this in its original setting once in a while.

Irving Berlin was not only the recipient of the award this year, but also the presenter. I'm pretty sure that's not been allowed to happen since......

What We Could/Should Have Been Watching:

Jimmy in action - doing what, unfortunately,
he's not best remembered for

Out of the list of nominees, the only other films I've seen are Yankee Doodle Dandy (years ago - I need to watch it again) and The Magnificent Ambersons (which was hacked to bits whilst Orson Welles was out of the country, so is not the film he intended to make - which is a shame, as it's a good film crying out to be a great film). There are other classics on the list, such as Pride of the Yankees and Random Harvest. I should probably watch both of those one day.

But it was always going to be Mrs Miniver and her wartime struggles. And I suppose that's fair enough!


Our Verdict:

A rose by any other name,,,,,,

We started watching the film with reasonably low expectations. Andy was clearly gearing up to cope with schmaltz and outdated stereotypes with a healthy dose of sarcasm. The opening scenes that tried a little too hard to paint Mrs M as some sort of 40s WAG didn't help at all - and certainly didn't do the rest of the film any favours.

When Mrs M gets back to the village fresh from her frivolous shopping trip she comes across Henry Travers (a few years before he played his most famous part as Clarence, Angel 2nd Class) and his accent wavers uncomfortably between US character actor and member of The Archers cast. A great deal is made of him naming a rose after Mrs M - for reasons that will become clear much later.....

Quite possibly the nicest, realest posh English family
ever portrayed on film!

At this point I'm still not entirely sure, but then we get back to the Miniver family home, Starlings, and I'm pretty much immediately won over. Mrs M chats realistically on the phone while her husband is faffing about. Mr M is incredibly lovely (Walter Pigeon successfully playing an Englishman with an American accent, one year after playing a Welshman with an American accent) and the interplay between the two of them is natural and clearly physical and passionate without anything "untoward" being said or done. Then we cut to Mrs M talking to the younger two children about how their older brother is "going through a phase". The conversation is well written and acted and just shows a really lovely and very real family doing family things. I think this is my favourite thing about the whole film. The family are brilliant. Down to earth, realistic, loving, funny and very easy to get caught up with. I love the interplay around the dinner table in several scenes and the way they talk to each other in more difficult times, like when they are stuck in air raid shelters. The random cat is all a part of this. Judy has the least to say, but some of the best moments - like asking Vin to bring her back a souvenir. What does she want? "A Messerschmitt!" Also the scene where Vin is heading over to the Beldon mansion and she asks if she can go with him. Mum says it's up to Vin. Judy gets up to follow him and there's a firm "No!" from offscreen, so she sits back down again. All of this feels very modern, totally unstuffy and just makes the whole film for me.

Single beds? Who do you think you're fooling Will Hays?

At the heart of the family are Mr and Mrs Miniver and they are both superb. Greer and Walter have undoubtable chemistry (which is why they were paired up on screen so many times). They are also very earthy and real. Totally believable as a loving couple - including physically. Which makes the way they skirt round the Hays Code in the bedroom pretty impressive. Any scene that doesn't show more than one of them actually on the bed gives the impression that there's only one bed in there - it's only one morning scene that reveals (unconvincingly) that they sleep apart. (Unfortunately there is really no way of getting round the preposterous single beds in the bedroom of newlyweds Vin and Carol. Given their fate I hope to God they pushed them together at least once!)

But what became of the crazy cat????

 Anyway, enough of my obsession with the domestic lives of the Minivers. This is a war film. There are scenes of war. There is some impressive cinematography - tracking shots of Dunkirk, planes being shot down etc. There is a really well played scene where Mrs M finds a German soldier that could so easily have gone horribly wrong, but doesn't. And there's a brilliantly claustrophobic scene in an Anderson shelter that very quickly turns from knitting and chatting into holding on to each other for dear life. Mrs M reassures Toby that the manic cat is hiding under the bed, but I fear he may have met a sticky end as that's the last we see of him!

Henry Travers and his rose make a reappearance to ensure that the heartstrings are well and truly tugged towards the end of the film - as Lady Beldon concedes and awards him the cup for Best Rose, just as the planes start to fly over again. It's the nearest to pure schmaltz but it works wonderfully (especially when we later find out who did and didn't survive the raid) and gives Dame May Whitty the chance to deliver the best line of the film - "Our enemies are no respecters of flower shows!" - which pretty much sums the whole thing up.

"Our enemies are no respecters of flower shows!"

The final scene in the church is quite a famous one, particularly the Vicar's speech - although said speech doesn't sound quite right to 21st Century ears. The construction of the scene is lovely, particularly when the camera pans round and reveals that half the church is missing! The names of the dead that are read out are all civilians - a very clever move from a propaganda point of view. And we leave the family and their community to carry on and deal with whatever is coming next - not knowing (or, at least, the viewers at the time didn't know) what is coming next, how long things will last, or who will be the ultimate victors.

In short - I liked the film a lot. There were things about it I really loved. I was quite surprised by this and am now happy to say that it deserved its Oscar - not just because of the moment in history in which it won, but because the film itself was impressively made and still enjoyable and thought provoking 75 years later.