Mrs. Miniver (1942)

The Minivers, an English middle-class family experience life in the first months of World War II. While dodging bombs, the Miniver's son courts Lady Beldon's granddaughter. A rose is named after Mrs. Miniver and entered in the competition against Lady Beldon's rose.
Mrs. Miniver is perhaps one of the best examples of a mainstream film dealing with an isolated population unaffected by the war (and to some degree, in denial) until the bombs exploded in their own private rose gardens. The film's prologue touts the British village home to average middle class families, but it's quite clear the Miniver family are part of the modern upper class; with a substantial disposable income, a housemaid, and a cook, they also maintain British reserve to sometimes irrational, and rather precious degrees.
Where the film excels, however, is director William Wyler's measured tone, which accepts the story's focus – of gradual changes and carnage on the home front – and uses lengthy sequences emphasizing actor reactions. The Miniver bomb shelter, and a lonely car trip with stalwart Greer Garson and Teresa Wright are two scenes magnifying emotional intimacy, and captures an awful fear without showing a single drop of blood.











Mrs. Miniver won six Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director (William Wyler), Best Screenplay, Best Lead Actress (Greer Garson), Best Supporting Actress (Teresa Wright), and Best Cinematography.







On June 14, 2006 it was named #40 on the American Film Institute's list celebrating the most inspirational films of all time.