Best Picture - 1942 - Mrs. Miniver

Video Codec..........: XviD ISO MPEG-4 
Video Bitrate........: 1264kbps 
Duration.............: 2:13:37
Resolution...........: 640*480 
Framerate............: 29.970 
Audio Codec..........: 0x2000 (Dolby AC3) AC3 
Audio Bitrate........: 192 kbps CBR 
Audio Channels.......: 1 
Filesize.............: 1,471,817,420
Subtitles............: English, French, Spanish 
 
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035093/
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Miniver_(film)
 
https://bayimg.com/CAkJFaadh

Mrs. Miniver is a 1942 drama film directed by William Wyler and starring Greer Garson in the title role. It was based on the fictional English housewife created by Jan Struther in 1937 for a series of newspaper columns, Mrs. Miniver. The film won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Director. A sequel The Miniver Story was made in 1950 with Garson and Pidgeon reprising their roles.

Plot

Mrs. Kay Miniver (Greer Garson) and her family live a comfortable life at a house called 'Starlings' in a village outside London. The house has a large garden, with a private landing stage on the river Thames, and a motorboat. Her husband Clem (Canadian-born actor Walter Pidgeon) is a successful architect. They have three children: the youngsters Toby and Judy (Christopher Severn and Clare Sandars), and an older son Vin (Richard Ney) at university. They have live-in staff: Gladys the housemaid (Brenda Forbes) and Ada the cook (Marie De Becker).

As World War II looms, Vin comes down from university and meets Carol Beldon (Teresa Wright), granddaughter of Lady Beldon (Dame May Whitty) from nearby Beldon Hall. Despite initial disagreements, mainly contrasting Vin's idealistic attitude to class differences with Carol's practical altruism, they fall in love. Vin proposes to Carol at a yacht club dinner-dance. They eventually marry, but as the war comes closer to home, Vin feels he must 'do his bit' and enlists in the Royal Air Force qualifying as a fighter pilot. He is posted to a base near to his parents' home.

Together with other boat owners, Clem volunteers to take his motorboat to assist in the Dunkirk evacuation.

Early one morning, Kay hears a plane crash nearby. The wounded, fanatical German pilot (Helmut Dantine) hides in her garden and then holds her at gunpoint. She feeds him, calmly disarms him and then calls the police. Soon after, Clem comes home.

After the flower show's competition, in which the entry of Mr Ballard, the local stationmaster (Henry Travers), named the 'Mrs. Miniver' rose, is declared the winner over Lady Beldon's rose, Kay and Carol drive Vin to join his squadron just as an air attack begins. On their return home, Kay stops the car; Carol is wounded in an attack from a German plane. She dies a few minutes after they reach home. Kay is devastated. When Vin returns from battle, he is told the terrible news.

The local inhabitants assemble at the badly damaged church where their vicar (Henry Wilcoxon), affirms their determination in a powerful sermon:

"We in this quiet corner of England have suffered the loss of friends very dear to us, some close to this church. George West, choirboy. James Ballard, stationmaster and bellringer, and the proud winner only an hour before his death of the Beldon Cup for his beautiful Miniver Rose. And our hearts go out in sympathy to the two families who share the cruel loss of a young girl who was married at this altar only two weeks ago.

"The homes of many of us have been destroyed, and the lives of young and old have been taken. There's scarcely a household that hasn't been struck to the heart.
"And why? Surely you must have asked yourselves this question? Why in all conscience should these be the ones to suffer? Children, old people, a young girl at the height of her loveliness? Why these? Are these our soldiers? Are these our fighters? Why should they be sacrificed?

"I shall tell you why. Because this is not only a war of soldiers in uniform. It is the war of the people, of all the people. And it must be fought not only on the battlefield but in the cities and in the villages, in the factories and on the farms, in the home and in the heart of every man, woman and child who loves freedom.

"Well, we have buried our dead, but we shall not forget them. Instead they will inspire us with an unbreakable determination to free ourselves, and those who come after us, from the tyranny and terror that threaten to strike us down.
"This is the People's War. It is our war. We are the fighters. Fight it then. Fight it with all that is in us. And may God defend the right."

Vin then moves over to Mrs. Beldon and stands with her as the congregation stand in unity and sing "Onward, Christian Soldiers" at the top of their voices, while through a gaping hole in the bombed-out roof in the sky above can be seen flight after flight of RAF fighters in the V-for-Victory formation heading out to face the enemy.

Wilcoxon and director William Wyler "wrote and re-wrote" this key sermon "the night before the sequence was to be shot." The speech "made such an impact that it was used in essence by President Roosevelt as a morale builder and part of it was the basis for leaflets printed in various languages and dropped over enemy and occupied territory."


Cast

Greer Garson         Mrs. Kay Miniver
Walter Pidgeon       Clem Miniver
Teresa Wright        Carol Beldon
Dame May Whitty      Lady Beldon
Reginald Owen        Foley
Henry Travers        James Ballard
Richard Ney          Vin Miniver
Henry Wilcoxon       Vicar
Christopher Severn   Toby Miniver
Brenda Forbes        Gladys - Housemaid
Clare Sandars        Judy Miniver
Marie De Becker      Ada - Cook
Helmut Dantine       German Flyer
John Abbott          Fred
Connie Leon          Simpson