Mrs. Miniver
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"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." |
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Mrs. Miniver is a 1942 Metro Goldwyn Mayer film, directed by William Wyler and starring Greer Garson. The film was considered a powerful weapon in the World War II propaganda campaign against the German Reich, as well as an outstanding artistic achievement, being nominated for twelve Academy Awards and winning six, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress for Teresa Wright, and Best Cinematography.
Mrs. Miniver was added to the National Film Registry in 2009.
Tropes used in Mrs. Miniver include:
- Anvilicious
- Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped: It was wartime, after all.
- Anyone Can Die
- Author Filibuster: At the end of the film.
- Bloodless Carnage: We see two people who were shot close up. We do not see either of them bleeding.
- California Doubling: Since real location shooting would mean filming in the middle of a war zone.
- Genteel Interbellum Setting: This film is about the transition between Christie Time and World War II.
- Hollywood Night: Lampshaded; Mr. Miniver turns off the lights so he can open the windows and notes that it's bright as day out there. Yes, Hollywood Night can occur in black&white films.
- Ironic Echo: There is a church scene near the beginning of the film and a church scene at the end. The same hymn in both. But the church looks very different...
- Kill the Cutie: Subverted Trope with Vincent, Double Subversion with Carol.
- Law of Conservation of Normality: Even during World War II, during periods of bombing, there will still be roses and flower shows. And just because a building has been bombed out doesn't mean you have to stop using it.
- No Ending: The war was still going when this was filmed.
- Pretty in Mink: Several fur coats and fur muffs are worn.
- Retirony: Carol says, near the end, that she accepts that Vincent might be killed in the war, and that she intends to enjoy the rest of the time she gets to spend with him--she'll have the rest of her life to mourn. And then, when Mrs. Miniver is trying to drive Carol home that night, and parks to watch the aeronautical action, some plane strafes the Minivers' car. Mrs. Miniver is okay (she didn't realize the car had actually been shot); Carol ... isn't.
- Role Association: It seems Clarence was a stationmaster when he was alive!
- Second Hand Storytelling: There are several plot-important battles, but the only one we get to see is the last one.
- Twist Ending: Two guesses...
- Wham! Line: "James Bellard, station master and bell ringer and a proud winner, only one hour before his death, of the Belding Cup for his beautiful Miniver rose;" What makes this a Wham Line is that this is the first we hear of his death.
- World War Two
