Friday, May 4, 2012

Gem


One of the photos on last Monday's blog post clearly showed that I'm still watching the old classic movies in my DVD collection, although I recently considered abandoning this undertaking.
The classic movie rewatch was suspended a while back when I became slightly disappointed about the fact that many of those old movies had lost a lot of their charm for me.  I guess it's only to be expected that one wouldn't get the same level of enjoyment in middle age over movies much loved as a teenager. Tastes change of course. So, I had to decide if I wanted to continue with this, or stop and let the memories of the rest of those old movies remain untarnished in my mind.
After a break of a few weeks, and not really wanting to give up, I decided to watch the next movie on my list - I was still only up to 1942, by the way. This would be a make or break situation. The next movie was one of my very favourites many long years ago. If I watched it and didn't love it, I didn't hold out much hope for the ones to come.
  So, with trepidation, I watched "Mrs Miniver".









I think the number of pictures here attests to how much I still love this wonderful, near-perfect movie.

It's the story of how the outbreak of World War II affects the lives of the Minivers, an upper middle class family living in a quaint little English village. I love so much about it - the little domestic details, the cosy decor of the Miniver home, the depiction of the lovely, natural relationship between Kaye Miniver and her husband, Clem, and the adorableness of the child actors.
 Greer Garson with her serene demeanor and soothing voice is perfect in the leading role. It's such a moving story and very uplifting - the entire village bravely facing war's tragedies. I can see why it was used as a propaganda piece back in 1942.
My faith has been restored. I loved this just as much as I used to. I know some of the upcoming movies on my list will not live up to expectations, but I also know I will come across some other gems just like "Mrs Miniver".



Images  from all over the place, but particularly here where there is also a brief but lovely comparison of the book and film.

2 comments:

librarygirl said...

I remember Mum telling me probably about seven or eight years ago that once it was on as the lunchtime movie and she and Dad watched it. At one point she looked over and Dad had tears simply pouring down his face...
Gosh he had such a sentimental side didn't he?

Amanda Lee said...

He did indeed - and this one is definitely a real tear-jerker.