Customer Reviews

Miniver Story [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have to admit that I was not prepared for what this film was to be about: Post-WWII Britain and the harsh realities of piecing life back together after years of andrenalin-pumped chaos and drama. I think I was expecting this film to be lighter and more of an MGM "production" than what it turned out to be. In retrospect, I realize now that the best aspect of "The Miniver Story" is that MGM did not overglamourize Postwar England the way it glamourized WWII England in "Mrs. Miniver." Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon are still wonderful here as the genteel middle-class couple whose love can conquer all, including her can't-win battle with cancer. One could easily imagine the timeless "coming to terms with terminal cancer" scenes between husband and wife transposed into any modern-day story of partners dealing with incurable and/or degenerating diseases/conditions (AIDS, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, leukemia, etc.). The strength of character and bravery (along with great acting and solid MGM production values) are the only similarities to "Mrs. Miniver" you'll read in "The Miniver Story."

A superb performance by Greer Garson--touching, gentle, wistful, sad, and hopeful at the same time. Her scenes with Walter Pidgeon are some of the best acting she has ever done, simple and heartfelt without the mannerisms(arched eyebrows, flared nostrils) she employed in "Mrs. Miniver" and some of her earlier films.
This is an older Garson, at the height of her beauty as a mature woman in her mid forties. Later films began to reveal her age, but, in this film, superb photography allows her beauty to shine from within. What a terrific actress she was portraying the privations the British endured in the post war years as they coped with rationing, the damage from years of bombing, and the exhaustion that followed the war effort. Her own frequent experience with serious illness and her knowledge of what her relatives in England endured during and after WWII must have helped her with her portrayal in this film.
This film is a must for Garson fans--not depressing or boring but a deep quiet film. Scenes like the staircase scene near the end remain with you. Garson's friend and mentor at MGM, drama coach Lillian Burns, was especially pleased with Garson's performance and cabled her congratulations when the film premiered.
Not a great film, but an outstanding display of the work of great actors!

I watched this movie directly after seeing "Mrs. Miniver" on Turner Classics, and expected something along the same lines, however I was a bit disappointed in the defeatest tone of the movie, and the fact that there was no accounting (unless I missed it somehow) of the absence of the oldest son Vin...also, Judy aged quite fast in this sequel! I was unhappy about the ending, and couldn't understand why we couldn't just have Greer and Walter dance off into the sunset...still, if/when it is available on DVD I will buy it.

now, i've always heard mrs miniver was this and that; but i saw them both and really this one is the masterpiece. It will make you smile, it will make you cry; it's absolutely a movie you should buy without hesitating because you'll watch it again and again- i wouldn't say the same about "mrs miniver".

After the staggering success of the original Mrs. Miniver, a simple but profoundly moving story of home life in a small English village during World War II, M.G.M. Studios reunited the cast for yet another look into the lives of this most English of English families.

Unfortunately, it seems that the entire Miniver family went completely to pot, if not to hell in a handbasket, in the interim. Given an eight-rate script which focuses on a mawkish love triangle, even the actors seem slightly embarrassed, and the Miniver family rapidly descends into tedious soap opera. Unlike the the original film, they are no longer people we can admire or a family we particularly want to know. Two stars only, one for the efforts of a talented cast, one for the usual excellent M.G.M. production values.