Mrs. Miniver and The Best Years Of Our Lives Wikipedia film pages

 



The Miniver Story

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search


The Miniver Story
MiniverStory.jpg
Theatrical release poster
 
Directed by
H.C. Potter
Produced by
Sidney Franklin
Written by
George Froeschel
Ronald Millar
Jan Struther (original characters)
Starring
Greer Garson
Walter Pidgeon
John Hodiak
Leo Genn
Cathy O'Donnell
Reginald Owen
Henry Wilcoxon
Music by
Miklós Rózsa
Herbert Stothart
Cinematography
Joseph Ruttenberg
Edited by
Frank Clarke
Harold F. Kress
Distributed by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Release dates
 October 26, 1950

Running time
 104 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$3,660,000[1]
Box office
$2,224,000[1]
The Miniver Story is a 1950 film sequel to the successful 1942 film Mrs. Miniver.
Like its predecessor, it was made by MGM and starred Greer Garson in the title role, but it was filmed on location in England. The film was directed by H.C. Potter and produced by Sidney Franklin, from a screenplay by George Froeschel and Ronald Millar based on characters created by Jan Struther. The music score was by Miklós Rózsa and Herbert Stothart, with additional music by Daniele Amfitheatrof (from Mrs. Miniver) (uncredited) and the cinematography by Joseph Ruttenberg.
Greer Garson (Kay), Walter Pidgeon (Clem), Reginald Owen (Mr. Foley) and Henry Wilcoxon (Vicar) played their original roles. Also in the cast were Peter Finch (Polish officer) and James Fox in his first film appearance (Toby Miniver).


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Reception
4 References
5 External links

Plot[edit]

 

 Walter Pidgeon and Greer Garson
The story, told partly in flashback and narrated by Clem Miniver, commences on VE Day as Clem and Judy return home from war service and Toby returns from a foster family in America.
Judy, a corporal driver, is loved by Tom Foley, a captain in the Royal Engineers, but she is besotted with a general (Leo Genn) married but separated and twice her age. Kay Miniver has also conducted a brief and innocent affair with an American colonel.
Clem is now restless and dissatisfied; he successfully applies for a design contract in Brazil. But Kay, unknown to him, has developed a major cardiac condition and has one year at most to live. Despite this, she persuades the general to return to his wife, leaving Judy free to marry Tom.
The wedding goes ahead. Clem, now aware of Kay's medical condition, decides to stay in London and brings Tom into his architectural practice. Satisfied that her family are safe and happy, Kay dies.
No mention is made of the eldest Miniver son, Vincent, who appeared in the earlier film, possibly because Greer Garson and Richard Ney (the actor who portrayed Vincent) had married and been divorced (1943–1947) by the time The Miniver Story was produced in 1950.
Cast[edit]
Greer Garson as Kay Miniver
Walter Pidgeon as Clem Miniver
John Hodiak as Spike Romway
Leo Genn as Steve Brunswick
Cathy O'Donnell as Judy Miniver
Reginald Owen as Mr. Foley
Anthony Bushell as Dr. Kaneslaey
Richard Gale as Tom Foley
Peter Finch as Polish officer
James Fox as Toby Miniver
Reception[edit]
According to MGM records the film earned only $990,000 in the US and Canada but performed better elsewhere, making $1,234,000. However this was not enough to recoup the large budget and the movie recorded a loss of $2,311,000, making it MGM's most costly flop of 1950.[1][2]
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
2.Jump up ^ Scott Eyman, Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer, Robson, 2005 p 399
External links[edit]
The Miniver Story at the Internet Movie Database
The Miniver Story at the TCM Movie Database


[hide]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Films directed by H. C. Potter

 
Beloved Enemy (1936) ·
 Wings over Honolulu (1937) ·
 Romance in the Dark (1938) ·
 The Shopworn Angel (1938) ·
 The Cowboy and the Lady (1938) ·
 The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939) ·
 Blackmail (1939) ·
 Congo Maisie (1940) ·
 Second Chorus (1940) ·
 Hellzapoppin' (1941) ·
 Mr. Lucky (1943) ·
 The Farmer's Daughter (1947) ·
 A Likely Story (1947) ·
 Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) ·
 The Time of Your Life (1948) ·
 The Miniver Story (1950) ·
 Three for the Show (1955) ·
 Top Secret Affair (1957)
 

  


Categories: English-language films
1950s drama films
1950 films
American drama films
Black-and-white films
Films directed by H. C. Potter
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Sequel films
Film scores by Miklós Rózsa
American films




Navigation menu



Create account
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Log in



Article

Talk





 



Read

Edit

View history










 






Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
Català
Deutsch
Français
Italiano
Nederlands
Edit links
This page was last modified on 14 June 2015, at 08:41.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki 
  
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Miniver_Story






 



The Miniver Story

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search


The Miniver Story
MiniverStory.jpg
Theatrical release poster
 
Directed by
H.C. Potter
Produced by
Sidney Franklin
Written by
George Froeschel
Ronald Millar
Jan Struther (original characters)
Starring
Greer Garson
Walter Pidgeon
John Hodiak
Leo Genn
Cathy O'Donnell
Reginald Owen
Henry Wilcoxon
Music by
Miklós Rózsa
Herbert Stothart
Cinematography
Joseph Ruttenberg
Edited by
Frank Clarke
Harold F. Kress
Distributed by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Release dates
 October 26, 1950

Running time
 104 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$3,660,000[1]
Box office
$2,224,000[1]
The Miniver Story is a 1950 film sequel to the successful 1942 film Mrs. Miniver.
Like its predecessor, it was made by MGM and starred Greer Garson in the title role, but it was filmed on location in England. The film was directed by H.C. Potter and produced by Sidney Franklin, from a screenplay by George Froeschel and Ronald Millar based on characters created by Jan Struther. The music score was by Miklós Rózsa and Herbert Stothart, with additional music by Daniele Amfitheatrof (from Mrs. Miniver) (uncredited) and the cinematography by Joseph Ruttenberg.
Greer Garson (Kay), Walter Pidgeon (Clem), Reginald Owen (Mr. Foley) and Henry Wilcoxon (Vicar) played their original roles. Also in the cast were Peter Finch (Polish officer) and James Fox in his first film appearance (Toby Miniver).


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Reception
4 References
5 External links

Plot[edit]

 

 Walter Pidgeon and Greer Garson
The story, told partly in flashback and narrated by Clem Miniver, commences on VE Day as Clem and Judy return home from war service and Toby returns from a foster family in America.
Judy, a corporal driver, is loved by Tom Foley, a captain in the Royal Engineers, but she is besotted with a general (Leo Genn) married but separated and twice her age. Kay Miniver has also conducted a brief and innocent affair with an American colonel.
Clem is now restless and dissatisfied; he successfully applies for a design contract in Brazil. But Kay, unknown to him, has developed a major cardiac condition and has one year at most to live. Despite this, she persuades the general to return to his wife, leaving Judy free to marry Tom.
The wedding goes ahead. Clem, now aware of Kay's medical condition, decides to stay in London and brings Tom into his architectural practice. Satisfied that her family are safe and happy, Kay dies.
No mention is made of the eldest Miniver son, Vincent, who appeared in the earlier film, possibly because Greer Garson and Richard Ney (the actor who portrayed Vincent) had married and been divorced (1943–1947) by the time The Miniver Story was produced in 1950.
Cast[edit]
Greer Garson as Kay Miniver
Walter Pidgeon as Clem Miniver
John Hodiak as Spike Romway
Leo Genn as Steve Brunswick
Cathy O'Donnell as Judy Miniver
Reginald Owen as Mr. Foley
Anthony Bushell as Dr. Kaneslaey
Richard Gale as Tom Foley
Peter Finch as Polish officer
James Fox as Toby Miniver
Reception[edit]
According to MGM records the film earned only $990,000 in the US and Canada but performed better elsewhere, making $1,234,000. However this was not enough to recoup the large budget and the movie recorded a loss of $2,311,000, making it MGM's most costly flop of 1950.[1][2]
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
2.Jump up ^ Scott Eyman, Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer, Robson, 2005 p 399
External links[edit]
The Miniver Story at the Internet Movie Database
The Miniver Story at the TCM Movie Database


[hide]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Films directed by H. C. Potter

 
Beloved Enemy (1936) ·
 Wings over Honolulu (1937) ·
 Romance in the Dark (1938) ·
 The Shopworn Angel (1938) ·
 The Cowboy and the Lady (1938) ·
 The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939) ·
 Blackmail (1939) ·
 Congo Maisie (1940) ·
 Second Chorus (1940) ·
 Hellzapoppin' (1941) ·
 Mr. Lucky (1943) ·
 The Farmer's Daughter (1947) ·
 A Likely Story (1947) ·
 Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) ·
 The Time of Your Life (1948) ·
 The Miniver Story (1950) ·
 Three for the Show (1955) ·
 Top Secret Affair (1957)
 

  


Categories: English-language films
1950s drama films
1950 films
American drama films
Black-and-white films
Films directed by H. C. Potter
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Sequel films
Film scores by Miklós Rózsa
American films




Navigation menu



Create account
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Log in



Article

Talk





 



Read

Edit

View history










 






Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
Català
Deutsch
Français
Italiano
Nederlands
Edit links
This page was last modified on 14 June 2015, at 08:41.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki 
  
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Miniver_Story





 



Mrs. Miniver

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

This article is about the fictional character. For the film, see Mrs. Miniver (film).


 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2008)
Mrs. Miniver is a fictional character created by Jan Struther in 1937 for a series of newspaper columns for The Times, later adapted into a film of the same name.


Contents  [hide]
1 Origin
2 Book publication
3 Film adaptations
4 Radio adaptation
5 Television adaptation
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

Origin[edit]
The Times columns were short reflections on everyday life, based in part on Struther's own family and experiences. While the columns started out as lighthearted domestic scenes where the outside world barely intruded, the approach of World War II slowly brought darker global concerns into Mrs. Miniver's world. One of the more memorable pieces appears near the middle of the series, where the Minivers get gas masks.
Book publication[edit]
The columns were first published in book form in 1939, shortly after the outbreak of war. Struther stopped the regular newspaper columns that year, but wrote a series of letters from Mrs. Miniver, expanding on the character's wartime experiences. These were published in later editions.
The book became an enormous success, especially in the United States, where Struther went on a lecture tour shortly after the book's release.
The U.S. was still officially neutral, but as war with Nazi Germany intensified in Europe, the tribulations of the Miniver family engaged the sympathy of the American public sufficiently that President Franklin D. Roosevelt credited it for hastening America's involvement in the war. Winston Churchill is said to have claimed that it had done more for the Allied cause than a flotilla of battleships.[1] Churchill is further quoted by Bernard Wasserstein in his book, "Barbarism and Civilization," as saying that the book (and later the film) was worth "six divisions of war effort."
In 1942, when the film came out, Roosevelt ordered it rushed to theaters.[2]
Film adaptations[edit]
Main article: Mrs. Miniver (film)
The film adaptation of Mrs. Miniver was produced by MGM in 1942 with Greer Garson in the leading role and William Wyler directing. Under the influence of the American Office of War Information, the film attempted to undermine Hollywood's prewar depiction of Britain as a glamorous bastion of social privilege, anachronistic habits and snobbery in favour of more democratic, modern images. To this end, the social status enjoyed by the Miniver family in the print version was downgraded and increased attention was given to the erosion of class barriers under the pressures of wartime. In 1942, the film won an Oscar in the Best Picture category and both Greer Garson and Teresa Wright won an Oscar in the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress categories respectively. The film grossed $5,358,000 in North America (the highest for any MGM film at the time) and $3,520,000 abroad. In Britain, it was named the top box office attraction of 1942. 555 of the 592 film critics polled by American magazine Film Daily named it the best film of 1942.
A sequel to Mrs Miniver, The Miniver Story was made by the same studio in 1950 with Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon reprising their original roles. The characters were based on those in the original film, but their creator, Jan Struther, did not participate in the sequel.
Radio adaptation[edit]
In 1944, CBS Radio presented a Friday-night series named Mrs. Miniver starring Judith Evelyn and Karl Swenson. They were soon replaced by Gertrude Warner and John Moore. But the show only lasted 9 months.
Television adaptation[edit]
In 1960, CBS Television presented Mrs. Miniver starring Maureen O'Hara as Mrs Miniver, Leo Genn as Clem Miniver, Juliet Mills and Keir Dullea. The adaptation was by George Bart and was directed by Marc Daniels.
See also[edit]
Mrs. Miniver's problem
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Emily Yellin, Our Mothers' War, p 100 ISBN 0-7432-4514-8
2.Jump up ^ Emily Yellin, Our Mothers' War, p 99-100 ISBN 0-7432-4514-8
External links[edit]
Internet edition of the book Mrs. Miniver
  


Categories: Fictional socialites





Navigation menu



Create account
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Log in



Article

Talk





 



Read

Edit

View history










 






Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
Nederlands
Edit links
This page was last modified on 5 August 2014, at 23:59.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki 
  
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Miniver





 



Mrs. Miniver

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

This article is about the fictional character. For the film, see Mrs. Miniver (film).


 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2008)
Mrs. Miniver is a fictional character created by Jan Struther in 1937 for a series of newspaper columns for The Times, later adapted into a film of the same name.


Contents  [hide]
1 Origin
2 Book publication
3 Film adaptations
4 Radio adaptation
5 Television adaptation
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

Origin[edit]
The Times columns were short reflections on everyday life, based in part on Struther's own family and experiences. While the columns started out as lighthearted domestic scenes where the outside world barely intruded, the approach of World War II slowly brought darker global concerns into Mrs. Miniver's world. One of the more memorable pieces appears near the middle of the series, where the Minivers get gas masks.
Book publication[edit]
The columns were first published in book form in 1939, shortly after the outbreak of war. Struther stopped the regular newspaper columns that year, but wrote a series of letters from Mrs. Miniver, expanding on the character's wartime experiences. These were published in later editions.
The book became an enormous success, especially in the United States, where Struther went on a lecture tour shortly after the book's release.
The U.S. was still officially neutral, but as war with Nazi Germany intensified in Europe, the tribulations of the Miniver family engaged the sympathy of the American public sufficiently that President Franklin D. Roosevelt credited it for hastening America's involvement in the war. Winston Churchill is said to have claimed that it had done more for the Allied cause than a flotilla of battleships.[1] Churchill is further quoted by Bernard Wasserstein in his book, "Barbarism and Civilization," as saying that the book (and later the film) was worth "six divisions of war effort."
In 1942, when the film came out, Roosevelt ordered it rushed to theaters.[2]
Film adaptations[edit]
Main article: Mrs. Miniver (film)
The film adaptation of Mrs. Miniver was produced by MGM in 1942 with Greer Garson in the leading role and William Wyler directing. Under the influence of the American Office of War Information, the film attempted to undermine Hollywood's prewar depiction of Britain as a glamorous bastion of social privilege, anachronistic habits and snobbery in favour of more democratic, modern images. To this end, the social status enjoyed by the Miniver family in the print version was downgraded and increased attention was given to the erosion of class barriers under the pressures of wartime. In 1942, the film won an Oscar in the Best Picture category and both Greer Garson and Teresa Wright won an Oscar in the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress categories respectively. The film grossed $5,358,000 in North America (the highest for any MGM film at the time) and $3,520,000 abroad. In Britain, it was named the top box office attraction of 1942. 555 of the 592 film critics polled by American magazine Film Daily named it the best film of 1942.
A sequel to Mrs Miniver, The Miniver Story was made by the same studio in 1950 with Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon reprising their original roles. The characters were based on those in the original film, but their creator, Jan Struther, did not participate in the sequel.
Radio adaptation[edit]
In 1944, CBS Radio presented a Friday-night series named Mrs. Miniver starring Judith Evelyn and Karl Swenson. They were soon replaced by Gertrude Warner and John Moore. But the show only lasted 9 months.
Television adaptation[edit]
In 1960, CBS Television presented Mrs. Miniver starring Maureen O'Hara as Mrs Miniver, Leo Genn as Clem Miniver, Juliet Mills and Keir Dullea. The adaptation was by George Bart and was directed by Marc Daniels.
See also[edit]
Mrs. Miniver's problem
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Emily Yellin, Our Mothers' War, p 100 ISBN 0-7432-4514-8
2.Jump up ^ Emily Yellin, Our Mothers' War, p 99-100 ISBN 0-7432-4514-8
External links[edit]
Internet edition of the book Mrs. Miniver
  


Categories: Fictional socialites





Navigation menu



Create account
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Log in



Article

Talk





 



Read

Edit

View history










 






Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
Nederlands
Edit links
This page was last modified on 5 August 2014, at 23:59.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki 
  
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Miniver





 



Mrs. Miniver (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search


Mrs. Miniver
Mrs Miniver poster.gif
Theatrical release poster
 
Directed by
William Wyler
Produced by
Sidney Franklin
Screenplay by
Arthur Wimperis
George Froeschel
James Hilton
 Claudine West
Based on
Mrs. Miniver
 1939 book (from newspaper column Mrs. Miniver
 by Jan Struther
Starring
Greer Garson
Walter Pidgeon
Music by
Herbert Stothart
Cinematography
Joseph Ruttenberg
Edited by
Harold F. Kress

Production
 company

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
 
Distributed by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Release dates

June 4, 1942
 

Running time
 133 minutes[1]
Country
United States
Language
English
 German
Budget
$1.34 million[2]
Box office
$8,878,000[2]
Mrs. Miniver is a 1942 American romantic war drama film directed by William Wyler, and starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon. Based on the 1940 novel Mrs. Miniver by Jan Struther,[3] the film shows how the life of an unassuming British housewife in rural England is touched by World War II. She sees her eldest son go to war, finds herself confronting a German pilot who has parachuted into her idyllic village while her husband is participating in the Dunkirk evacuation, and loses her daughter-in-law as a casualty.
Produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the film features a strong supporting cast that includes Teresa Wright, Dame May Whitty, Reginald Owen, Henry Travers, Richard Ney and Henry Wilcoxon.[4]
Mrs. Miniver won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (William Wyler), Best Actress (Greer Garson), and Best Supporting Actress (Teresa Wright).[5][6] In 1950, a film sequel The Miniver Story was made with Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon reprising their roles.[4]
In 2006, the film was ranked number 40 on the American Film Institute's list celebrating the most inspirational films of all time. In 2009, the film was named to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant and will be preserved for all time.[7]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production 3.1 Screenplay
4 Reception 4.1 Critical response
4.2 Box office
4.3 Awards and nominations
5 Sequel and adaptations
6 References
7 External links

Plot[edit]
Kay Miniver (Greer Garson) and her family live a comfortable life at a house called 'Starlings' in Belham, a fictional village outside London. The house has a large garden, with a private landing stage on the River Thames at which is moored a motorboat belonging to her devoted husband Clem (Walter Pidgeon), a successful architect. They have three children: the youngsters Toby (Christopher Severn) and Judy (Clare Sandars) and an older son Vin (Richard Ney) a student at a university. They have live-in staff: Gladys (Brenda Forbes) the housemaid and Ada (Marie De Becker) the cook.
As World War II looms, Vin returns from the 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 in front of his family at home, after his younger brother prods him to give a less romantic but more honest proposal. 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 and is able to signal his safe return from operations to his parents by cutting his engines briefly as he flies over the house. Together with other boat owners, Clem volunteers to take his motorboat to assist in the Dunkirk evacuation.
Early one morning, Kay unable to sleep as Clem is still away, wanders down to the landing stage. She is startled to discover a wounded German pilot (Helmut Dantine) hiding in her garden, and he takes her at gunpoint. Demanding food and a coat, the pilot aggressively asserts that the Third Reich will mercilessly overcome its enemies. She feeds him, calmly disarms him when he collapses, and then calls the police. Soon after, Clem returns home, exhausted, from Dunkirk.
Lady Beldon visits Kay to try and convince her to talk Vin out of marrying Carol on account of her granddaughter's comparative youth. Kay reminds her that she, too, was young when she married her late husband. Lady Beldon concedes defeat and realizes that she would be foolish to try to stop the marriage. Vin and Carol are married; Carol has now also become Mrs Miniver, and they return from their honeymoon in Scotland. A key theme is that she knows he is likely to be killed in action, but the short love will fill her life. Later, Kay and her family take refuge in their Anderson shelter in the garden during an air raid, and attempt to keep their minds off the frightening bombing by reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which Clem refers to as a "lovely story" as they barely survive as a bomb destroys parts of the house. They take the damage with nonchalance.
At the annual village flower show, Lady Beldon silently disregards the judges' decision that her rose is the winner, instead announcing the entry of the local stationmaster, Mr. Ballard (Henry Travers), named the "Mrs. Miniver" rose, as the winner, with her own rose taking second prize. As air raid sirens sound and the villagers take refuge in the cellars of Beldon Hall, Kay and Carol drive Vin to join his squadron. On their journey home they witness fighter planes in a 'dogfight'. For safety, Kay stops the car and they see a German plane crash. Kay realizes Carol has been wounded by shots from the plane and takes her back to 'Starlings'. She dies a few minutes after they reach home. Kay is devastated. When Vin returns from battle, he already knows the terrible news. Unexpectedly, he is the survivor and she the one who gives her life for Britain.
The villagers assemble at the badly damaged church where their vicar 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.
A solitary Lady Beldon stands in her family's church pew. Vin moves to stand alongside her, united in shared grief, as the members of the congregation rise and stoically sing "Onward, Christian Soldiers", while through a gaping hole in the bombed church roof can be seen flight after flight of RAF fighters in the V-for-Victory formation heading out to face the enemy.
Cast[edit]
Greer Garson as Kay Miniver
Walter Pidgeon as Clem Miniver
Teresa Wright as Carol Beldon
Dame May Whitty as Lady Beldon          
Reginald Owen as Foley
Henry Travers as Mr. Ballard
Richard Ney as Vin Miniver[Note 1]
Henry Wilcoxon as the Vicar
Christopher Severn as Toby Miniver
Brenda Forbes as Gladys (Housemaid)
Clare Sandars as Judy Miniver
Marie De Becker as Ada
Helmut Dantine as German flyer
John Abbott as Fred
Connie Leon as Simpson
Rhys Williams as Horace
Production[edit]
Screenplay[edit]
The film went into pre-production in the autumn of 1940, when the United States was still a neutral country. The script was written over many months, and during that time the USA moved closer to war. As a result, scenes were re-written to reflect the increasingly pro-British and anti-German outlook of Americans. The scene in which Mrs. Miniver confronts a downed German flyer in her garden, for example, was made more and more confrontational with each new version of the script. It was initially filmed before the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor brought the USA into the war, but following the attack, the scene was filmed again to reflect the tough, new spirit of a nation at war. The key difference was that in the new version of the scene, filmed in February 1942, Mrs Miniver was allowed to slap the flyer across the face. The film was released 4 months later.[8]
Wilcoxon and director William Wyler "wrote and re-wrote" the key sermon the night before the sequence was to be shot.[9] 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."[9] Roosevelt ordered it rushed to the theaters for propaganda purposes.[10]
There is a parallel story concerning the Dunkirk evacuation. Sub-Lieut. Robert Owen Wilcoxon of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, only brother of Henry Wilcoxon, assisted in the Dunkirk evacuation on 29 May 1940; but, having helped to get hundreds of Allied troops off the beach to safety in his assault landing craft, he was fatally injured when, after returning to the sloop HMS Bideford to arrange a tow back to Dover, the ship had its stern blown off by a bomb dropped from a dive-bombing German aircraft. This must have been on Wilcoxon's mind during the making of the film.[11]
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
In 2006, the film was ranked number 40 on the American Film Institute's list of the most inspiring American films of all time. In 2009, Mrs. Miniver was named to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant and will be preserved for all time.[7] The film was selected for the following reasons:

This remarkably touching wartime melodrama pictorialises the classic British stiff upper lip and the courage of a middle class English family (headed by Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon) amid the chaos of air raids and family loss. The film's iconic tribute to the sacrifices on the home front, as movingly directed by William Wyler, did much to rally America’s support for its British allies.[7]
Box office[edit]
The film exceeded all expectations, grossing $5,358,000 in the US and Canada (the highest for any MGM film at the time) and $3,520,000 abroad. In the United Kingdom, it was named the top box office attraction of 1942. The initial theatrical release made MGM a profit of $4,831,000, their most profitable film of the year.[2]
Of the 592 film critics polled by American magazine Film Daily, 555 named it the best film of 1942.[12]
Awards and nominations[edit]
Mrs. Miniver won six Academy Awards in 1943.[13]

Award
Result
Nominee
Notes
Outstanding Motion Picture Won Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (Before 1951, this award was given to the production company instead of the individual producer.)
Best Director Won William Wyler 
Best Actor Nominated Walter Pidgeon Winner was James Cagney for Yankee Doodle Dandy
Best Actress Won Greer Garson[Note 2] 
Best Writing, Screenplay Won George Froeschel, James Hilton, Claudine West, Arthur Wimperis 
Best Supporting Actor Nominated Henry Travers Winner was Van Heflin for Johnny Eager
Best Supporting Actress Won Teresa Wright 
Best Supporting Actress Nominated May Whitty Winner was Teresa Wright for Mrs. Miniver
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White Won Joseph Ruttenberg 
Best Effects, Special Effects Nominated A. Arnold Gillespie (photographic)
Warren Newcombe (photographic)
Douglas Shearer (sound) Winner was Gordon Jennings, Farciot Edouart, William L. Pereira, Louis Mesenkop for Reap the Wild Wind
Best Film Editing Nominated Harold F. Kress Winner was Daniel Mandell for The Pride of the Yankees
Best Sound, Recording Nominated Douglas Shearer Winner was Nathan Levinson for Yankee Doodle Dandy
Sequel and adaptations[edit]
In 1943, the film was adapted into an episode of the Lux Radio Theatre. That episode in turn was popular enough to inspire a 5-day a week serial, starring radio veteran Trudy Warner on CBS.[14]
In 1950, a film sequel The Miniver Story was made with Garson and Pidgeon reprising their roles.
In 1960, a 90-minute television adaptation directed by Marc Daniels was broadcast on CBS, with Maureen O'Hara as Mrs. Miniver and Leo Genn as Clem Miniver.
References[edit]
Notes
1.Jump up ^ Soon after playing Garson's son in the film, Richard Ney married Garson, who was 11 years his senior.
2.Jump up ^ Garson's Oscar acceptance speech was the longest of all time, taking five-and-a-half minutes to finish. A 45-second time limit was imposed on acceptance speeches shortly thereafter.
Citations
1.Jump up ^ "MRS. MINIVER (U)". British Board of Film Classification. June 29, 1942. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
2.^ Jump up to: a b c The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
3.Jump up ^ Struther, Jan (1940). Mrs. Miniver. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company. ASIN B000O9ZBGA.
4.^ Jump up to: a b "Mrs. Miniver (1942)". The New York Times. Retrieved February 16, 2013.
5.Jump up ^ "Awards for Mrs. Miniver". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved February 16, 2013.
6.Jump up ^ "Mr. Miniver (1942)". Reel Classics. Retrieved February 16, 2013.
7.^ Jump up to: a b c "News from the Library of Congress". Library of Congress. December 30, 2009. Retrieved February 16, 2013.
8.Jump up ^ Glancy, Mark (1999). When Hollywood Loved Britain: The Hollywood 'British' Film, 1939-45. Manchester: Manchester University Press. pp. 147–148. ISBN 978-0719048531.
9.^ Jump up to: a b Daynard, Don Henry Wilcoxon in Peter Harris (ed.) The New Captain George's Whizzbang #13 (1971), p. 5
10.Jump up ^ Yellin, Emily (2005). Our Mothers' War. New York: Free Press. pp. 99–100. ISBN 978-0743245166.
11.Jump up ^ Gardner, W. J. R.(ed.), The Evacuation from Dunkirk, 'Operation Dynamo', 26 May-4 June 1940, Frank Cass, London, 2000 ISBN 0-7146-5120-6.
12.Jump up ^ Glancy 1999, p. 154.
13.Jump up ^ "The 15th Academy Awards (1943) Nominees and Winners". Oscars. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
14.Jump up ^ "Jan Struther Bibliography". October 20, 2008.
Further reading
Christensen, Jerome. "Studio Identity and Studio Art: MGM, Mrs. Miniver, and Planning the Postwar Era." ELH (2000) 67#1 pp: 257-292. online
Glancy, Mark. When Hollywood Loved Britain: The Hollywood 'British' Film (1999)
Koppes, Clayton R., and Gregory D. Black. Hollywood Goes to War: Patriotism, Movies and the Second World War from Ninotchka to Mrs Miniver (Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2000)
Short, K. R. M. "'The White Cliffs of Dover': promoting the Anglo-American Alliance in World War II." Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television (1982) 2#1 pp: 3-25.
Troyan, Michael. A Rose for Mrs. Miniver: The Life of Greer Garson (2010)
External links[edit]
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mrs. Miniver (film).
Mrs. Miniver at the Internet Movie Database
Mrs. Miniver at the TCM Movie Database
Mrs. Miniver at the American Film Institute Catalog
Mrs. Miniver at Rotten Tomatoes
"Mrs. Miniver Opening Scenes". Retrieved 2008-08-20.
"Mrs. Miniver and the German Soldier". Retrieved 2008-08-20.
"The full Cast of Mrs. Miniver". Retrieved 2008-10-09.
"Mrs. Miniver Script transcript". Retrieved 2008-10-08.
Mrs. Miniver on Lux Radio Theater: December 6, 1943
BBC Radio 4 - And The Academy Award Goes To ... Mrs Miniver, Series 5 Episode 1

Awards
Preceded by
Gone With The Wind Academy Award winner for both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress Succeeded by
A Streetcar Named Desire


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Films directed by William Wyler

 





































 


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Academy Award for Best Picture

 


























 




























 




























 

















 


Authority control
VIAF: 266617520 ·
 GND: 1023588153
 

  


Categories: 1942 films
1940s drama films
1940s war films
American films
American romantic drama films
American World War II propaganda films
English-language films
Films directed by William Wyler
Best Picture Academy Award winners
Battle of Britain films
Black-and-white films
Films featuring a Best Actress Academy Award winning performance
Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winning performance
Films set in country houses
Films set in the 1930s
Films set in the 1940s
Films set on the home front during World War II
Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography Academy Award
Films whose director won the Best Director Academy Award
Films whose writer won the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award
War drama films
World War II films made in wartime
United States National Film Registry films
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Films set in England









Navigation menu



Create account
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Log in



Article

Talk





 



Read

Edit

View history










 






Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
العربية
Български
Català
Deutsch
Ελληνικά
Español
Euskara
فارسی
Français
한국어
Hrvatski
Italiano
עברית
Magyar
Македонски
Nederlands
日本語
Norsk bokmål
Polski
Português
Română
Русский
Simple English
Српски / srpski
Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски
Suomi
Svenska
தமிழ்
Türkçe
Українська
Tiếng Việt
中文
Edit links
This page was last modified on 4 October 2015, at 08:01.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki 
  
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Miniver_(film)





 



Mrs. Miniver (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search


Mrs. Miniver
Mrs Miniver poster.gif
Theatrical release poster
 
Directed by
William Wyler
Produced by
Sidney Franklin
Screenplay by
Arthur Wimperis
George Froeschel
James Hilton
 Claudine West
Based on
Mrs. Miniver
 1939 book (from newspaper column Mrs. Miniver
 by Jan Struther
Starring
Greer Garson
Walter Pidgeon
Music by
Herbert Stothart
Cinematography
Joseph Ruttenberg
Edited by
Harold F. Kress

Production
 company

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
 
Distributed by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Release dates

June 4, 1942
 

Running time
 133 minutes[1]
Country
United States
Language
English
 German
Budget
$1.34 million[2]
Box office
$8,878,000[2]
Mrs. Miniver is a 1942 American romantic war drama film directed by William Wyler, and starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon. Based on the 1940 novel Mrs. Miniver by Jan Struther,[3] the film shows how the life of an unassuming British housewife in rural England is touched by World War II. She sees her eldest son go to war, finds herself confronting a German pilot who has parachuted into her idyllic village while her husband is participating in the Dunkirk evacuation, and loses her daughter-in-law as a casualty.
Produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the film features a strong supporting cast that includes Teresa Wright, Dame May Whitty, Reginald Owen, Henry Travers, Richard Ney and Henry Wilcoxon.[4]
Mrs. Miniver won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (William Wyler), Best Actress (Greer Garson), and Best Supporting Actress (Teresa Wright).[5][6] In 1950, a film sequel The Miniver Story was made with Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon reprising their roles.[4]
In 2006, the film was ranked number 40 on the American Film Institute's list celebrating the most inspirational films of all time. In 2009, the film was named to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant and will be preserved for all time.[7]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production 3.1 Screenplay
4 Reception 4.1 Critical response
4.2 Box office
4.3 Awards and nominations
5 Sequel and adaptations
6 References
7 External links

Plot[edit]
Kay Miniver (Greer Garson) and her family live a comfortable life at a house called 'Starlings' in Belham, a fictional village outside London. The house has a large garden, with a private landing stage on the River Thames at which is moored a motorboat belonging to her devoted husband Clem (Walter Pidgeon), a successful architect. They have three children: the youngsters Toby (Christopher Severn) and Judy (Clare Sandars) and an older son Vin (Richard Ney) a student at a university. They have live-in staff: Gladys (Brenda Forbes) the housemaid and Ada (Marie De Becker) the cook.
As World War II looms, Vin returns from the 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 in front of his family at home, after his younger brother prods him to give a less romantic but more honest proposal. 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 and is able to signal his safe return from operations to his parents by cutting his engines briefly as he flies over the house. Together with other boat owners, Clem volunteers to take his motorboat to assist in the Dunkirk evacuation.
Early one morning, Kay unable to sleep as Clem is still away, wanders down to the landing stage. She is startled to discover a wounded German pilot (Helmut Dantine) hiding in her garden, and he takes her at gunpoint. Demanding food and a coat, the pilot aggressively asserts that the Third Reich will mercilessly overcome its enemies. She feeds him, calmly disarms him when he collapses, and then calls the police. Soon after, Clem returns home, exhausted, from Dunkirk.
Lady Beldon visits Kay to try and convince her to talk Vin out of marrying Carol on account of her granddaughter's comparative youth. Kay reminds her that she, too, was young when she married her late husband. Lady Beldon concedes defeat and realizes that she would be foolish to try to stop the marriage. Vin and Carol are married; Carol has now also become Mrs Miniver, and they return from their honeymoon in Scotland. A key theme is that she knows he is likely to be killed in action, but the short love will fill her life. Later, Kay and her family take refuge in their Anderson shelter in the garden during an air raid, and attempt to keep their minds off the frightening bombing by reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which Clem refers to as a "lovely story" as they barely survive as a bomb destroys parts of the house. They take the damage with nonchalance.
At the annual village flower show, Lady Beldon silently disregards the judges' decision that her rose is the winner, instead announcing the entry of the local stationmaster, Mr. Ballard (Henry Travers), named the "Mrs. Miniver" rose, as the winner, with her own rose taking second prize. As air raid sirens sound and the villagers take refuge in the cellars of Beldon Hall, Kay and Carol drive Vin to join his squadron. On their journey home they witness fighter planes in a 'dogfight'. For safety, Kay stops the car and they see a German plane crash. Kay realizes Carol has been wounded by shots from the plane and takes her back to 'Starlings'. She dies a few minutes after they reach home. Kay is devastated. When Vin returns from battle, he already knows the terrible news. Unexpectedly, he is the survivor and she the one who gives her life for Britain.
The villagers assemble at the badly damaged church where their vicar 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.
A solitary Lady Beldon stands in her family's church pew. Vin moves to stand alongside her, united in shared grief, as the members of the congregation rise and stoically sing "Onward, Christian Soldiers", while through a gaping hole in the bombed church roof can be seen flight after flight of RAF fighters in the V-for-Victory formation heading out to face the enemy.
Cast[edit]
Greer Garson as Kay Miniver
Walter Pidgeon as Clem Miniver
Teresa Wright as Carol Beldon
Dame May Whitty as Lady Beldon          
Reginald Owen as Foley
Henry Travers as Mr. Ballard
Richard Ney as Vin Miniver[Note 1]
Henry Wilcoxon as the Vicar
Christopher Severn as Toby Miniver
Brenda Forbes as Gladys (Housemaid)
Clare Sandars as Judy Miniver
Marie De Becker as Ada
Helmut Dantine as German flyer
John Abbott as Fred
Connie Leon as Simpson
Rhys Williams as Horace
Production[edit]
Screenplay[edit]
The film went into pre-production in the autumn of 1940, when the United States was still a neutral country. The script was written over many months, and during that time the USA moved closer to war. As a result, scenes were re-written to reflect the increasingly pro-British and anti-German outlook of Americans. The scene in which Mrs. Miniver confronts a downed German flyer in her garden, for example, was made more and more confrontational with each new version of the script. It was initially filmed before the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor brought the USA into the war, but following the attack, the scene was filmed again to reflect the tough, new spirit of a nation at war. The key difference was that in the new version of the scene, filmed in February 1942, Mrs Miniver was allowed to slap the flyer across the face. The film was released 4 months later.[8]
Wilcoxon and director William Wyler "wrote and re-wrote" the key sermon the night before the sequence was to be shot.[9] 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."[9] Roosevelt ordered it rushed to the theaters for propaganda purposes.[10]
There is a parallel story concerning the Dunkirk evacuation. Sub-Lieut. Robert Owen Wilcoxon of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, only brother of Henry Wilcoxon, assisted in the Dunkirk evacuation on 29 May 1940; but, having helped to get hundreds of Allied troops off the beach to safety in his assault landing craft, he was fatally injured when, after returning to the sloop HMS Bideford to arrange a tow back to Dover, the ship had its stern blown off by a bomb dropped from a dive-bombing German aircraft. This must have been on Wilcoxon's mind during the making of the film.[11]
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
In 2006, the film was ranked number 40 on the American Film Institute's list of the most inspiring American films of all time. In 2009, Mrs. Miniver was named to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant and will be preserved for all time.[7] The film was selected for the following reasons:

This remarkably touching wartime melodrama pictorialises the classic British stiff upper lip and the courage of a middle class English family (headed by Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon) amid the chaos of air raids and family loss. The film's iconic tribute to the sacrifices on the home front, as movingly directed by William Wyler, did much to rally America’s support for its British allies.[7]
Box office[edit]
The film exceeded all expectations, grossing $5,358,000 in the US and Canada (the highest for any MGM film at the time) and $3,520,000 abroad. In the United Kingdom, it was named the top box office attraction of 1942. The initial theatrical release made MGM a profit of $4,831,000, their most profitable film of the year.[2]
Of the 592 film critics polled by American magazine Film Daily, 555 named it the best film of 1942.[12]
Awards and nominations[edit]
Mrs. Miniver won six Academy Awards in 1943.[13]

Award
Result
Nominee
Notes
Outstanding Motion Picture Won Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (Before 1951, this award was given to the production company instead of the individual producer.)
Best Director Won William Wyler 
Best Actor Nominated Walter Pidgeon Winner was James Cagney for Yankee Doodle Dandy
Best Actress Won Greer Garson[Note 2] 
Best Writing, Screenplay Won George Froeschel, James Hilton, Claudine West, Arthur Wimperis 
Best Supporting Actor Nominated Henry Travers Winner was Van Heflin for Johnny Eager
Best Supporting Actress Won Teresa Wright 
Best Supporting Actress Nominated May Whitty Winner was Teresa Wright for Mrs. Miniver
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White Won Joseph Ruttenberg 
Best Effects, Special Effects Nominated A. Arnold Gillespie (photographic)
Warren Newcombe (photographic)
Douglas Shearer (sound) Winner was Gordon Jennings, Farciot Edouart, William L. Pereira, Louis Mesenkop for Reap the Wild Wind
Best Film Editing Nominated Harold F. Kress Winner was Daniel Mandell for The Pride of the Yankees
Best Sound, Recording Nominated Douglas Shearer Winner was Nathan Levinson for Yankee Doodle Dandy
Sequel and adaptations[edit]
In 1943, the film was adapted into an episode of the Lux Radio Theatre. That episode in turn was popular enough to inspire a 5-day a week serial, starring radio veteran Trudy Warner on CBS.[14]
In 1950, a film sequel The Miniver Story was made with Garson and Pidgeon reprising their roles.
In 1960, a 90-minute television adaptation directed by Marc Daniels was broadcast on CBS, with Maureen O'Hara as Mrs. Miniver and Leo Genn as Clem Miniver.
References[edit]
Notes
1.Jump up ^ Soon after playing Garson's son in the film, Richard Ney married Garson, who was 11 years his senior.
2.Jump up ^ Garson's Oscar acceptance speech was the longest of all time, taking five-and-a-half minutes to finish. A 45-second time limit was imposed on acceptance speeches shortly thereafter.
Citations
1.Jump up ^ "MRS. MINIVER (U)". British Board of Film Classification. June 29, 1942. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
2.^ Jump up to: a b c The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
3.Jump up ^ Struther, Jan (1940). Mrs. Miniver. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company. ASIN B000O9ZBGA.
4.^ Jump up to: a b "Mrs. Miniver (1942)". The New York Times. Retrieved February 16, 2013.
5.Jump up ^ "Awards for Mrs. Miniver". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved February 16, 2013.
6.Jump up ^ "Mr. Miniver (1942)". Reel Classics. Retrieved February 16, 2013.
7.^ Jump up to: a b c "News from the Library of Congress". Library of Congress. December 30, 2009. Retrieved February 16, 2013.
8.Jump up ^ Glancy, Mark (1999). When Hollywood Loved Britain: The Hollywood 'British' Film, 1939-45. Manchester: Manchester University Press. pp. 147–148. ISBN 978-0719048531.
9.^ Jump up to: a b Daynard, Don Henry Wilcoxon in Peter Harris (ed.) The New Captain George's Whizzbang #13 (1971), p. 5
10.Jump up ^ Yellin, Emily (2005). Our Mothers' War. New York: Free Press. pp. 99–100. ISBN 978-0743245166.
11.Jump up ^ Gardner, W. J. R.(ed.), The Evacuation from Dunkirk, 'Operation Dynamo', 26 May-4 June 1940, Frank Cass, London, 2000 ISBN 0-7146-5120-6.
12.Jump up ^ Glancy 1999, p. 154.
13.Jump up ^ "The 15th Academy Awards (1943) Nominees and Winners". Oscars. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
14.Jump up ^ "Jan Struther Bibliography". October 20, 2008.
Further reading
Christensen, Jerome. "Studio Identity and Studio Art: MGM, Mrs. Miniver, and Planning the Postwar Era." ELH (2000) 67#1 pp: 257-292. online
Glancy, Mark. When Hollywood Loved Britain: The Hollywood 'British' Film (1999)
Koppes, Clayton R., and Gregory D. Black. Hollywood Goes to War: Patriotism, Movies and the Second World War from Ninotchka to Mrs Miniver (Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2000)
Short, K. R. M. "'The White Cliffs of Dover': promoting the Anglo-American Alliance in World War II." Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television (1982) 2#1 pp: 3-25.
Troyan, Michael. A Rose for Mrs. Miniver: The Life of Greer Garson (2010)
External links[edit]
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mrs. Miniver (film).
Mrs. Miniver at the Internet Movie Database
Mrs. Miniver at the TCM Movie Database
Mrs. Miniver at the American Film Institute Catalog
Mrs. Miniver at Rotten Tomatoes
"Mrs. Miniver Opening Scenes". Retrieved 2008-08-20.
"Mrs. Miniver and the German Soldier". Retrieved 2008-08-20.
"The full Cast of Mrs. Miniver". Retrieved 2008-10-09.
"Mrs. Miniver Script transcript". Retrieved 2008-10-08.
Mrs. Miniver on Lux Radio Theater: December 6, 1943
BBC Radio 4 - And The Academy Award Goes To ... Mrs Miniver, Series 5 Episode 1

Awards
Preceded by
Gone With The Wind Academy Award winner for both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress Succeeded by
A Streetcar Named Desire


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Films directed by William Wyler

 





































 


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Academy Award for Best Picture

 


























 




























 




























 

















 


Authority control
VIAF: 266617520 ·
 GND: 1023588153
 

  


Categories: 1942 films
1940s drama films
1940s war films
American films
American romantic drama films
American World War II propaganda films
English-language films
Films directed by William Wyler
Best Picture Academy Award winners
Battle of Britain films
Black-and-white films
Films featuring a Best Actress Academy Award winning performance
Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winning performance
Films set in country houses
Films set in the 1930s
Films set in the 1940s
Films set on the home front during World War II
Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography Academy Award
Films whose director won the Best Director Academy Award
Films whose writer won the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award
War drama films
World War II films made in wartime
United States National Film Registry films
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Films set in England









Navigation menu



Create account
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Log in



Article

Talk





 



Read

Edit

View history










 






Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
العربية
Български
Català
Deutsch
Ελληνικά
Español
Euskara
فارسی
Français
한국어
Hrvatski
Italiano
עברית
Magyar
Македонски
Nederlands
日本語
Norsk bokmål
Polski
Português
Română
Русский
Simple English
Српски / srpski
Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски
Suomi
Svenska
தமிழ்
Türkçe
Українська
Tiếng Việt
中文
Edit links
This page was last modified on 4 October 2015, at 08:01.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki 
  
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Miniver_(film)





 



The Best Years of Our Lives

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

For other uses, see The Best Years of Our Lives (disambiguation).

The Best Years of Our Lives
The Best Years of Our Lives film poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
 
Directed by
William Wyler
Produced by
Samuel Goldwyn
Screenplay by
Robert E. Sherwood
Based on
Glory for Me
 1945 novella
 by MacKinlay Kantor
Starring
Myrna Loy
Fredric March
Dana Andrews
Teresa Wright
Virginia Mayo
Harold Russell
Music by
Hugo Friedhofer
Emil Newman
Cinematography
Gregg Toland
Edited by
Daniel Mandell

Production
 company

Samuel Goldwyn Productions
 
Distributed by
RKO Radio Pictures

Release dates

November 21, 1946 (United States)
 

Running time
 172 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$2.1 million[1]
Box office
$23,650,000[2]
The Best Years of Our Lives (aka Glory for Me and Home Again) is a 1946 American drama film directed by William Wyler and starring Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo, and Harold Russell. The film is about three United States servicemen readjusting to civilian life after coming home from World War II. Samuel Goldwyn was inspired to produce a film about veterans after reading an August 7, 1944, article in Time about the difficulties experienced by men returning to civilian life. Goldwyn hired former war correspondent MacKinlay Kantor to write a screenplay. His work was first published as a novella, Glory for Me, which Kantor wrote in blank verse.[3][4] Robert Sherwood then adapted the novella as a screenplay.[4]
The Best Years of Our Lives won seven Academy Awards in 1946, including Best Picture, Best Director (William Wyler), Best Actor (Fredric March), Best Supporting Actor (Harold Russell), Best Film Editing (Daniel Mandell), Best Adapted Screenplay (Robert Sherwood), and Best Original Score (Hugo Friedhofer).[5] In addition to its critical success, the film quickly became a great commercial success upon release. It became the highest-grossing film and most attended film in both the United States and UK since the release of Gone with the Wind, selling approximately 55 million tickets in the United States [6] which equaled a gross of $23,650,000.[7] It remains the sixth most-attended film of all time in the UK, with over 20 million tickets sold.[8] The film had one of the highest viewing figures of all time, with ticket sales exceeding $20.4 million.[9]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Reception

5 References
6 External links

Plot[edit]
After World War II, Fred Derry (Dana Andrews), Homer Parrish (Harold Russell), and Al Stephenson (Fredric March) meet while flying home to Boone City (a fictional city patterned after Cincinnati, Ohio[3]). Fred was a decorated Army Air Forces captain and bombardier in Europe. Homer lost both hands from burns suffered when his aircraft carrier was sunk, and now uses mechanical hook prostheses. Al served as an infantry platoon sergeant in the Pacific. All three have trouble adjusting to civilian life.
Al has a comfortable home and a loving family: wife Milly (Myrna Loy), adult daughter Peggy (Teresa Wright, who was only thirteen years Loy's junior), and college freshman son Rob (Michael Hall, who is absent after the first one-third of the film). He returns to his old job as a bank loan officer. The bank president views his military experience as valuable in dealing with other returning servicemen. When Al approves a loan (without collateral) to a young Navy veteran, however, the president advises him against making a habit of it. Later, at a banquet held in his honor, a slightly inebriated Al expounds his belief that the bank (and America) must stand with the vets who risked everything to defend the country and give them every chance to rebuild their lives.
Before the war, Fred had been an unskilled drugstore soda jerk. He wants something better, but the tight postwar job market forces him to return to his old job. Fred had met Marie (Virginia Mayo) while in flight training and married her shortly afterward, before shipping out less than a month later. She became a nightclub waitress while Fred was overseas. Marie makes it clear she does not enjoy being married to a lowly soda jerk.
Homer was a football quarterback and became engaged to his next door neighbor, Wilma (Cathy O'Donnell), before joining the Navy. Both Homer and his parents now have trouble dealing with his disability. He does not want to burden Wilma with his handicap and so pushes her away, although she still wants to marry him.
Peggy meets Fred while bringing her father home from a bar where the three men meet once again. They are attracted to each other. Peggy dislikes Marie, and informs her parents she intends to end Fred and Marie's marriage, but they tell her that their own marriage overcame similar problems. Concerned, Al demands that Fred stop seeing his daughter. Fred agrees, but the friendship between the two men is strained.
At the drugstore, an obnoxious customer, who claims that the war was fought against the wrong enemies, gets into a fight with Homer. Fred intervenes and knocks the man into a glass counter, costing him his job. Later, Fred encourages Homer to put his misgivings behind him and marry Wilma, offering to be his best man.
One evening, Wilma visits Homer and tells him that her parents want her to leave Boone City for an extended period to try to forget him. Homer bluntly demonstrates to her how hard life with him would be. When Wilma is undaunted, Homer reconsiders.
On arriving home, Fred discovers his wife with another veteran (Steve Cochran). After complaining to Fred that she has "given up the best years of my life," Marie tells him that she is getting a divorce. Fred decides to leave town, and gives his father his medals and citations. His father is unable to persuade Fred to stay. After Fred leaves, his father reads the citation for his Distinguished Flying Cross as composed by General Doolittle. At the airport, Fred books space on the first outbound aircraft, without regard for the destination. While waiting, he wanders into a vast aircraft boneyard. Inside the nose of a B-17, he relives the intense memories of combat. The boss of a work crew rouses him from his flashback. When the man says the aluminum from the aircraft is being salvaged to build housing, Fred persuades the boss to hire him.
At the Bride's home, people have gathered for the wedding of Homer and Wilma. Fred, now-divorced, is Homer's best man. While the vows are exchanged Fred and Peggy glance across at one another. At the conclusion everyone gathers around the newlyweds. Still gazing over at Peggy, Fred walks across the room, takes her in his arms and kisses her. He asks if she knows how things will be for them, that it will be a hard at first, that it could take years before they can get a life established. All the while Peggy smiles fondly at Fred, and then kisses him back.
Cast[edit]


Myrna Loy as Milly Stephenson
Fredric March as Sergeant 1st Class Al Stephenson
Dana Andrews as Captain Fred Derry
Teresa Wright as Peggy Stephenson
Virginia Mayo as Marie Derry
Cathy O'Donnell as Wilma Cameron
Hoagy Carmichael as Uncle Butch Engle
Harold Russell as Petty Officer 2nd Class Homer Parrish
Gladys George as Hortense Derry
Roman Bohnen as Pat Derry
Ray Collins as Mr. Milton
Minna Gombell as Mrs. Parrish
 Walter Baldwin as Mr. Parrish
Steve Cochran as Cliff
Dorothy Adams as Mrs. Cameron
Don Beddoe as Mr. Cameron
Marlene Aames as Luella Parrish
Charles Halton as Prew
Ray Teal as Mr. Mollett
Howland Chamberlain as Thorpe
Dean White as Novak
Erskine Sanford as Bullard
Michael Hall as Rob Stephenson
Victor Cutler as Woody
 
Michael Hall is the last surviving primary cast member.
Casting brought together established stars as well as character actors and relative unknowns. Famed drummer Gene Krupa was seen in archival footage, while Tennessee Ernie Ford, later a famous television star, appeared as an uncredited "hillbilly singer" (in the first of his only three film appearances).[Note 1] Blake Edwards, later notable as a film producer and director, appeared fleetingly as an uncredited "Corporal". Actress Judy Wyler was cast in her first role in her father's production. Sean Penn's father, Leo, played the uncredited part of the soldier working as the scheduling clerk at the beginning of the film.).
Production[edit]
Director William Wyler had flown combat missions over Europe in filming Memphis Belle (1944) and worked hard to get accurate depictions of the combat veterans he had encountered. Wyler changed the original casting that had featured a veteran suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder and sought out Harold Russell, a non-actor to take on the exacting role of Homer Parrish.[10]
For The Best Years of Our Lives, he asked the principal actors to purchase their own clothes, in order to connect with daily life and produce an authentic feeling. Other Wyler touches included constructing life-size sets, which went against the standard larger sets that were more suited to camera positions. The impact for the audience was immediate, as each scene played out in a realistic, natural way.[10]
The Best Years of Our Lives began filming on April 15, 1946 at a variety of locations, including the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, Ontario International Airport, Ontario, California, Raleigh Studios, Hollywood, and the Samuel Goldwyn/Warner Hollywood Studios.[10] The Best Years of Our Lives is notable for cinematographer Gregg Toland's use of deep focus photography, in which objects both close to and distant from the camera are in sharp focus.[11] For the passage of Fred Derry's reliving a combat mission while sitting in the remains of a former bomber, Wyler used "zoom" effects to simulate Derry's subjective state.[12]
The "Jackson High" football stadium seen early in aerial footage of the bomber flying over the fictional Boone City, is Corcoran Stadium located at Xavier University in Cincinnati. A few seconds later Walnut Hills High School with its distinctive dome and football field can be seen along with the downtown Cincinnati skyline (Carew Tower and PNC Tower) in the background.[13]
After the war, the combat aircraft featured in the film were being destroyed and disassembled for reuse as scrap material. The scene of Derry's walking among aircraft ruins was filmed at the Ontario Army Air Field in Ontario, California. The former training facility had been converted into a scrap yard, housing nearly 2,000 former combat aircraft in various states of disassembly and reclamation.[10]
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
Upon its release, The Best Years of Our Lives received extremely positive reviews from critics. Shortly after its premiere at the Astor Theater, New York, Bosley Crowther, film critic for The New York Times, hailed the film as a masterpiece. He wrote,

It is seldom that there comes a motion picture which can be wholly and enthusiastically endorsed not only as superlative entertainment but as food for quiet and humanizing thought... In working out their solutions Mr. Sherwood and Mr. Wyler have achieved some of the most beautiful and inspiring demonstrations of human fortitude that we have had in films." He also said the ensemble casting gave the "'best' performance in this best film this year from Hollywood."[14]
Film critic David Thomson offered tempered praise: "I would concede that Best Years is decent and humane... acutely observed, despite being so meticulous a package. It would have taken uncommon genius and daring at that time to sneak a view of an untidy or unresolved America past Goldwyn or the public."[15]
The Best Years of Our Lives has a 97% "Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes, based on 37 reviews.[16] Chicago Sun Times film critic Roger Ebert put the film on his "Great Movies" list in 2007, calling it "...modern, lean, and honest."[17]
The Best Years of Our Lives was a massive popular success, earning an estimated $11.5 million at the North American box office during its initial theatrical run.[18] When box office prices are adjusted for inflation, it remains one of the top 100 grossing films in U.S. history. Among films released before 1950, only Gone With the Wind, The Bells of St. Mary's, and four Disney titles have done more total business, in part due to later re-releases. (Reliable box office figures for certain early films such as Birth of a Nation and Charlie Chaplin's comedies are unavailable.)[19]
Awards and honors[edit]
1947 Academy Awards
The Best Years of Our Lives received nine Academy Awards. Fredric March won his second Best Actor award (also having won in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde).
Despite his Oscar-nominated performance, Harold Russell was not a professional actor. As the Academy Board of Governors considered him a long shot to win, they gave him an honorary award "for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans through his appearance." When Russell won Best Supporting Actor, there was an enthusiastic response. He is the only actor to have received two Academy Awards for the same performance. He later sold his Best Supporting Actor award at auction for $60,500, to pay his wife's medical bills.[20]

Award
Result
Winner
Best Motion Picture Won Samuel Goldwyn Productions (Samuel Goldwyn, Producer)
Best Director Won William Wyler
Best Actor Won Fredric March
Best Writing (Screenplay) Won Robert E. Sherwood
Best Supporting Actor Won Harold Russell
Best Film Editing Won Daniel Mandell
Best Music (Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) Won Hugo Friedhofer
Best Sound Recording Nominated Gordon E. Sawyer
Winner was John P. Livadary - The Jolson Story
Honorary Award Won To Harold Russell
Memorial Award Won Samuel Goldwyn
Some posters say the film won nine Academy Awards due to the honorary award won by Harold Russell, and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award won by Samuel Goldwyn, in addition to its seven awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, Best Editing, and Best Music Score.
1947 Golden Globe Awards
Won: Best Dramatic Motion Picture
Won: Special Award for Best Non-Professional Acting - Harold Russell
1947 Brussels World Film Festival
Won: Best Actress Of The Years - Myrna Loy
1948 BAFTA Awards
Won: BAFTA Award for Best Film from any Source
Other wins
National Board of Review: NBR Award Best Director, William Wyler; 1946.
New York Film Critics Circle Awards: NYFCC Award Best Director, William Wyler; Best Film; 1946.
Bodil Awards: Bodil; Best American Film, William Wyler; 1948.
Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain: CEC Award; Best Foreign Film, USA; 1948.
In 1989, the National Film Registry selected it for preservation in the United States Library of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
American Film Institute recognition
1998 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies #37
2006 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers #11
2007 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) #37
References[edit]
Notes
1.Jump up ^ At the time the film was shot, Ford was unknown as a singer. He worked in San Bernardino as a radio announcer-disc jockey.
Citations
1.Jump up ^ Thomson 1993, pp 490–491.
2.Jump up ^ " 'Best Years of Our Lives' (1946)." Box Office Mojo. Retrieved: February 4, 2010.
3.^ Jump up to: a b Orriss 1984, p. 119.
4.^ Jump up to: a b Levy, Emmanuel. "Review: 'The Best Years of Our Lives' (1946)." emanuellevy.com, May 4, 2010. Retrieved: November 20, 2011.
5.Jump up ^ "The 19th Academy Awards (1947) Nominees and Winners." oscars.org. Retrieved: November 20, 2011.
6.Jump up ^ "Domestic Total: Estimated tickets: 'The Best Years of Our Lives'." Box Office Mojo. Retrieved: February 10, 2015.
7.Jump up ^ "Box office: 'The Best Years of Our Lives'." Box Office Mojo. Retrieved: February 10, 2015.
8.Jump up ^ "BFI'S Ultimate Film Chart." BFi.org.uk. Retrieved: July 27, 2010.
9.Jump up ^ "Top 100 films." Channel 4. Retrieved: October 25, 2010.
10.^ Jump up to: a b c d Orriss 1984, p. 121.
11.Jump up ^ Kehr, Dave. "'The Best Years of Our Lives'." The Chicago Reader. Retrieved: April 26, 2007.
12.Jump up ^ Orriss 1984, pp. 121–122.
13.Jump up ^ "Trivia: 'The Best Years of Our Lives'." Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved: February 10, 2015.
14.Jump up ^ Crowther, Bosley. The Best Years of our Lives. The New York Times, November 22, 1946. Retrieved: April 26, 2007.
15.Jump up ^ Thomson, 2002, p. 949.
16.Jump up ^ " 'The Best Years of Our Lives'." Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved: July 30, 2010.
17.Jump up ^ Ebert, Roger. "The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)." Chicago Sun Times, December 29, 2007. Retrieved: November 20, 2011.
18.Jump up ^ "All Time Domestic Champs". Variety, January 6, 1960, p. 34.
19.Jump up ^ "All-time Films (adjusted)." Box Office Mojo. Retrieved: September 19, 2010.
20.Jump up ^ Bergan, Ronald. "Obituary: Harold Russell; Brave actor whose artificial hands helped him win two Oscars." The Guardian, February 6, 2002. Retrieved: June 12, 2012.
Bibliography
Dolan, Edward F. Jr. Hollywood Goes to War. London: Bison Books, 1985. ISBN 0-86124-229-7.
Flood, Richard. "Reel crank - critic Manny Farber." Artforum, Volume 37, Issue 1, September 1998. ISSN 0004-3532.
Hardwick, Jack and Ed Schnepf. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies", in The Making of the Great Aviation Films. General Aviation Series, Volume 2, 1989.
Kinn, Gail and Jim Piazza. The Academy Awards: The Complete Unofficial History. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2008. ISBN 978-1-57912-772-5.
Orriss, Bruce. When Hollywood Ruled the Skies: The Aviation Film Classics of World War II. Hawthorn, California: Aero Associates Inc., 1984. ISBN 0-9613088-0-X.
Thomson, David. Showman: The Life of David O. Selznick. London: Abacus, 1993. ISBN 978-0-2339-8791-0.
Thomson, David. "Wyler, William". A Biographical Dictionary of Film. London: Little, Brown, 2002. ISBN 0-316-85905-2.
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Best Years of Our Lives
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Best Years of Our Lives.
The Best Years of Our Lives at the Internet Movie Database
The Best Years of Our Lives at AllMovie
The Best Years of Our Lives at the TCM Movie Database
The Best Years of Our Lives at the American Film Institute Catalog
The Best Years of Our Lives at Rotten Tomatoes
The Best Years of Our Lives detailed synopsis/analysis at Film Site by Tim Dirks
The Best Years of Our Lives film article at Reel Classics. Includes MP3s
The Best years of Our Lives Film in Focus Series
The Best Years of Our Lives at the Golden Years web site
Streaming audio[edit]
The Best Years of Our Lives on Screen Guild Theater: November 24, 1947
The Best Years of Our Lives on Screen Directors Playhouse: April 17, 1949

Awards
Preceded by
Going My Way Academy Award winner for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor Succeeded by
Ben-Hur


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Films directed by William Wyler

 





































 


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
The films of Samuel Goldwyn

 























 







































 




















 









 


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Academy Award for Best Picture

 


























 




























 




























 

















 


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
BAFTA Award for Best Film

 



























 



















































 


Authority control
VIAF: 236643846 ·
 GND: 7843149-9
 

  


Categories: 1946 films
English-language films
1940s drama films
American films
American war films
American drama films
Black-and-white films
World War II films
Aviation films
Films about amputees
Films based on military novels
Best Picture Academy Award winners
Films featuring a Best Actor Academy Award winning performance
Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winning performance
Films whose director won the Best Director Academy Award
Films whose writer won the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award
Films that won the Best Original Score Academy Award
Films whose editor won the Best Film Editing Academy Award
Best Drama Picture Golden Globe winners
Best Film BAFTA Award winners
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
RKO Pictures films
Samuel Goldwyn Productions films
Films directed by William Wyler
United States National Film Registry films







Navigation menu



Create account
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Log in



Article

Talk





 



Read

Edit

View history










 






Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
العربية
Български
Català
Čeština
Deutsch
Ελληνικά
Español
Esperanto
Euskara
فارسی
Français
Hrvatski
Italiano
עברית
Magyar
Македонски
Bahasa Melayu
Nederlands
日本語
Norsk bokmål
Polski
Português
Română
Русский
Српски / srpski
Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски
Suomi
Svenska
தமிழ்
Türkçe
中文
Edit links
This page was last modified on 29 September 2015, at 02:51.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki 
  
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_Years_of_Our_Lives





 



The Best Years of Our Lives

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

For other uses, see The Best Years of Our Lives (disambiguation).

The Best Years of Our Lives
The Best Years of Our Lives film poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
 
Directed by
William Wyler
Produced by
Samuel Goldwyn
Screenplay by
Robert E. Sherwood
Based on
Glory for Me
 1945 novella
 by MacKinlay Kantor
Starring
Myrna Loy
Fredric March
Dana Andrews
Teresa Wright
Virginia Mayo
Harold Russell
Music by
Hugo Friedhofer
Emil Newman
Cinematography
Gregg Toland
Edited by
Daniel Mandell

Production
 company

Samuel Goldwyn Productions
 
Distributed by
RKO Radio Pictures

Release dates

November 21, 1946 (United States)
 

Running time
 172 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$2.1 million[1]
Box office
$23,650,000[2]
The Best Years of Our Lives (aka Glory for Me and Home Again) is a 1946 American drama film directed by William Wyler and starring Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo, and Harold Russell. The film is about three United States servicemen readjusting to civilian life after coming home from World War II. Samuel Goldwyn was inspired to produce a film about veterans after reading an August 7, 1944, article in Time about the difficulties experienced by men returning to civilian life. Goldwyn hired former war correspondent MacKinlay Kantor to write a screenplay. His work was first published as a novella, Glory for Me, which Kantor wrote in blank verse.[3][4] Robert Sherwood then adapted the novella as a screenplay.[4]
The Best Years of Our Lives won seven Academy Awards in 1946, including Best Picture, Best Director (William Wyler), Best Actor (Fredric March), Best Supporting Actor (Harold Russell), Best Film Editing (Daniel Mandell), Best Adapted Screenplay (Robert Sherwood), and Best Original Score (Hugo Friedhofer).[5] In addition to its critical success, the film quickly became a great commercial success upon release. It became the highest-grossing film and most attended film in both the United States and UK since the release of Gone with the Wind, selling approximately 55 million tickets in the United States [6] which equaled a gross of $23,650,000.[7] It remains the sixth most-attended film of all time in the UK, with over 20 million tickets sold.[8] The film had one of the highest viewing figures of all time, with ticket sales exceeding $20.4 million.[9]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Reception

5 References
6 External links

Plot[edit]
After World War II, Fred Derry (Dana Andrews), Homer Parrish (Harold Russell), and Al Stephenson (Fredric March) meet while flying home to Boone City (a fictional city patterned after Cincinnati, Ohio[3]). Fred was a decorated Army Air Forces captain and bombardier in Europe. Homer lost both hands from burns suffered when his aircraft carrier was sunk, and now uses mechanical hook prostheses. Al served as an infantry platoon sergeant in the Pacific. All three have trouble adjusting to civilian life.
Al has a comfortable home and a loving family: wife Milly (Myrna Loy), adult daughter Peggy (Teresa Wright, who was only thirteen years Loy's junior), and college freshman son Rob (Michael Hall, who is absent after the first one-third of the film). He returns to his old job as a bank loan officer. The bank president views his military experience as valuable in dealing with other returning servicemen. When Al approves a loan (without collateral) to a young Navy veteran, however, the president advises him against making a habit of it. Later, at a banquet held in his honor, a slightly inebriated Al expounds his belief that the bank (and America) must stand with the vets who risked everything to defend the country and give them every chance to rebuild their lives.
Before the war, Fred had been an unskilled drugstore soda jerk. He wants something better, but the tight postwar job market forces him to return to his old job. Fred had met Marie (Virginia Mayo) while in flight training and married her shortly afterward, before shipping out less than a month later. She became a nightclub waitress while Fred was overseas. Marie makes it clear she does not enjoy being married to a lowly soda jerk.
Homer was a football quarterback and became engaged to his next door neighbor, Wilma (Cathy O'Donnell), before joining the Navy. Both Homer and his parents now have trouble dealing with his disability. He does not want to burden Wilma with his handicap and so pushes her away, although she still wants to marry him.
Peggy meets Fred while bringing her father home from a bar where the three men meet once again. They are attracted to each other. Peggy dislikes Marie, and informs her parents she intends to end Fred and Marie's marriage, but they tell her that their own marriage overcame similar problems. Concerned, Al demands that Fred stop seeing his daughter. Fred agrees, but the friendship between the two men is strained.
At the drugstore, an obnoxious customer, who claims that the war was fought against the wrong enemies, gets into a fight with Homer. Fred intervenes and knocks the man into a glass counter, costing him his job. Later, Fred encourages Homer to put his misgivings behind him and marry Wilma, offering to be his best man.
One evening, Wilma visits Homer and tells him that her parents want her to leave Boone City for an extended period to try to forget him. Homer bluntly demonstrates to her how hard life with him would be. When Wilma is undaunted, Homer reconsiders.
On arriving home, Fred discovers his wife with another veteran (Steve Cochran). After complaining to Fred that she has "given up the best years of my life," Marie tells him that she is getting a divorce. Fred decides to leave town, and gives his father his medals and citations. His father is unable to persuade Fred to stay. After Fred leaves, his father reads the citation for his Distinguished Flying Cross as composed by General Doolittle. At the airport, Fred books space on the first outbound aircraft, without regard for the destination. While waiting, he wanders into a vast aircraft boneyard. Inside the nose of a B-17, he relives the intense memories of combat. The boss of a work crew rouses him from his flashback. When the man says the aluminum from the aircraft is being salvaged to build housing, Fred persuades the boss to hire him.
At the Bride's home, people have gathered for the wedding of Homer and Wilma. Fred, now-divorced, is Homer's best man. While the vows are exchanged Fred and Peggy glance across at one another. At the conclusion everyone gathers around the newlyweds. Still gazing over at Peggy, Fred walks across the room, takes her in his arms and kisses her. He asks if she knows how things will be for them, that it will be a hard at first, that it could take years before they can get a life established. All the while Peggy smiles fondly at Fred, and then kisses him back.
Cast[edit]


Myrna Loy as Milly Stephenson
Fredric March as Sergeant 1st Class Al Stephenson
Dana Andrews as Captain Fred Derry
Teresa Wright as Peggy Stephenson
Virginia Mayo as Marie Derry
Cathy O'Donnell as Wilma Cameron
Hoagy Carmichael as Uncle Butch Engle
Harold Russell as Petty Officer 2nd Class Homer Parrish
Gladys George as Hortense Derry
Roman Bohnen as Pat Derry
Ray Collins as Mr. Milton
Minna Gombell as Mrs. Parrish
 Walter Baldwin as Mr. Parrish
Steve Cochran as Cliff
Dorothy Adams as Mrs. Cameron
Don Beddoe as Mr. Cameron
Marlene Aames as Luella Parrish
Charles Halton as Prew
Ray Teal as Mr. Mollett
Howland Chamberlain as Thorpe
Dean White as Novak
Erskine Sanford as Bullard
Michael Hall as Rob Stephenson
Victor Cutler as Woody
 
Michael Hall is the last surviving primary cast member.
Casting brought together established stars as well as character actors and relative unknowns. Famed drummer Gene Krupa was seen in archival footage, while Tennessee Ernie Ford, later a famous television star, appeared as an uncredited "hillbilly singer" (in the first of his only three film appearances).[Note 1] Blake Edwards, later notable as a film producer and director, appeared fleetingly as an uncredited "Corporal". Actress Judy Wyler was cast in her first role in her father's production. Sean Penn's father, Leo, played the uncredited part of the soldier working as the scheduling clerk at the beginning of the film.).
Production[edit]
Director William Wyler had flown combat missions over Europe in filming Memphis Belle (1944) and worked hard to get accurate depictions of the combat veterans he had encountered. Wyler changed the original casting that had featured a veteran suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder and sought out Harold Russell, a non-actor to take on the exacting role of Homer Parrish.[10]
For The Best Years of Our Lives, he asked the principal actors to purchase their own clothes, in order to connect with daily life and produce an authentic feeling. Other Wyler touches included constructing life-size sets, which went against the standard larger sets that were more suited to camera positions. The impact for the audience was immediate, as each scene played out in a realistic, natural way.[10]
The Best Years of Our Lives began filming on April 15, 1946 at a variety of locations, including the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, Ontario International Airport, Ontario, California, Raleigh Studios, Hollywood, and the Samuel Goldwyn/Warner Hollywood Studios.[10] The Best Years of Our Lives is notable for cinematographer Gregg Toland's use of deep focus photography, in which objects both close to and distant from the camera are in sharp focus.[11] For the passage of Fred Derry's reliving a combat mission while sitting in the remains of a former bomber, Wyler used "zoom" effects to simulate Derry's subjective state.[12]
The "Jackson High" football stadium seen early in aerial footage of the bomber flying over the fictional Boone City, is Corcoran Stadium located at Xavier University in Cincinnati. A few seconds later Walnut Hills High School with its distinctive dome and football field can be seen along with the downtown Cincinnati skyline (Carew Tower and PNC Tower) in the background.[13]
After the war, the combat aircraft featured in the film were being destroyed and disassembled for reuse as scrap material. The scene of Derry's walking among aircraft ruins was filmed at the Ontario Army Air Field in Ontario, California. The former training facility had been converted into a scrap yard, housing nearly 2,000 former combat aircraft in various states of disassembly and reclamation.[10]
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
Upon its release, The Best Years of Our Lives received extremely positive reviews from critics. Shortly after its premiere at the Astor Theater, New York, Bosley Crowther, film critic for The New York Times, hailed the film as a masterpiece. He wrote,

It is seldom that there comes a motion picture which can be wholly and enthusiastically endorsed not only as superlative entertainment but as food for quiet and humanizing thought... In working out their solutions Mr. Sherwood and Mr. Wyler have achieved some of the most beautiful and inspiring demonstrations of human fortitude that we have had in films." He also said the ensemble casting gave the "'best' performance in this best film this year from Hollywood."[14]
Film critic David Thomson offered tempered praise: "I would concede that Best Years is decent and humane... acutely observed, despite being so meticulous a package. It would have taken uncommon genius and daring at that time to sneak a view of an untidy or unresolved America past Goldwyn or the public."[15]
The Best Years of Our Lives has a 97% "Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes, based on 37 reviews.[16] Chicago Sun Times film critic Roger Ebert put the film on his "Great Movies" list in 2007, calling it "...modern, lean, and honest."[17]
The Best Years of Our Lives was a massive popular success, earning an estimated $11.5 million at the North American box office during its initial theatrical run.[18] When box office prices are adjusted for inflation, it remains one of the top 100 grossing films in U.S. history. Among films released before 1950, only Gone With the Wind, The Bells of St. Mary's, and four Disney titles have done more total business, in part due to later re-releases. (Reliable box office figures for certain early films such as Birth of a Nation and Charlie Chaplin's comedies are unavailable.)[19]
Awards and honors[edit]
1947 Academy Awards
The Best Years of Our Lives received nine Academy Awards. Fredric March won his second Best Actor award (also having won in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde).
Despite his Oscar-nominated performance, Harold Russell was not a professional actor. As the Academy Board of Governors considered him a long shot to win, they gave him an honorary award "for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans through his appearance." When Russell won Best Supporting Actor, there was an enthusiastic response. He is the only actor to have received two Academy Awards for the same performance. He later sold his Best Supporting Actor award at auction for $60,500, to pay his wife's medical bills.[20]

Award
Result
Winner
Best Motion Picture Won Samuel Goldwyn Productions (Samuel Goldwyn, Producer)
Best Director Won William Wyler
Best Actor Won Fredric March
Best Writing (Screenplay) Won Robert E. Sherwood
Best Supporting Actor Won Harold Russell
Best Film Editing Won Daniel Mandell
Best Music (Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) Won Hugo Friedhofer
Best Sound Recording Nominated Gordon E. Sawyer
Winner was John P. Livadary - The Jolson Story
Honorary Award Won To Harold Russell
Memorial Award Won Samuel Goldwyn
Some posters say the film won nine Academy Awards due to the honorary award won by Harold Russell, and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award won by Samuel Goldwyn, in addition to its seven awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, Best Editing, and Best Music Score.
1947 Golden Globe Awards
Won: Best Dramatic Motion Picture
Won: Special Award for Best Non-Professional Acting - Harold Russell
1947 Brussels World Film Festival
Won: Best Actress Of The Years - Myrna Loy
1948 BAFTA Awards
Won: BAFTA Award for Best Film from any Source
Other wins
National Board of Review: NBR Award Best Director, William Wyler; 1946.
New York Film Critics Circle Awards: NYFCC Award Best Director, William Wyler; Best Film; 1946.
Bodil Awards: Bodil; Best American Film, William Wyler; 1948.
Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain: CEC Award; Best Foreign Film, USA; 1948.
In 1989, the National Film Registry selected it for preservation in the United States Library of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
American Film Institute recognition
1998 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies #37
2006 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Cheers #11
2007 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) #37
References[edit]
Notes
1.Jump up ^ At the time the film was shot, Ford was unknown as a singer. He worked in San Bernardino as a radio announcer-disc jockey.
Citations
1.Jump up ^ Thomson 1993, pp 490–491.
2.Jump up ^ " 'Best Years of Our Lives' (1946)." Box Office Mojo. Retrieved: February 4, 2010.
3.^ Jump up to: a b Orriss 1984, p. 119.
4.^ Jump up to: a b Levy, Emmanuel. "Review: 'The Best Years of Our Lives' (1946)." emanuellevy.com, May 4, 2010. Retrieved: November 20, 2011.
5.Jump up ^ "The 19th Academy Awards (1947) Nominees and Winners." oscars.org. Retrieved: November 20, 2011.
6.Jump up ^ "Domestic Total: Estimated tickets: 'The Best Years of Our Lives'." Box Office Mojo. Retrieved: February 10, 2015.
7.Jump up ^ "Box office: 'The Best Years of Our Lives'." Box Office Mojo. Retrieved: February 10, 2015.
8.Jump up ^ "BFI'S Ultimate Film Chart." BFi.org.uk. Retrieved: July 27, 2010.
9.Jump up ^ "Top 100 films." Channel 4. Retrieved: October 25, 2010.
10.^ Jump up to: a b c d Orriss 1984, p. 121.
11.Jump up ^ Kehr, Dave. "'The Best Years of Our Lives'." The Chicago Reader. Retrieved: April 26, 2007.
12.Jump up ^ Orriss 1984, pp. 121–122.
13.Jump up ^ "Trivia: 'The Best Years of Our Lives'." Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved: February 10, 2015.
14.Jump up ^ Crowther, Bosley. The Best Years of our Lives. The New York Times, November 22, 1946. Retrieved: April 26, 2007.
15.Jump up ^ Thomson, 2002, p. 949.
16.Jump up ^ " 'The Best Years of Our Lives'." Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved: July 30, 2010.
17.Jump up ^ Ebert, Roger. "The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)." Chicago Sun Times, December 29, 2007. Retrieved: November 20, 2011.
18.Jump up ^ "All Time Domestic Champs". Variety, January 6, 1960, p. 34.
19.Jump up ^ "All-time Films (adjusted)." Box Office Mojo. Retrieved: September 19, 2010.
20.Jump up ^ Bergan, Ronald. "Obituary: Harold Russell; Brave actor whose artificial hands helped him win two Oscars." The Guardian, February 6, 2002. Retrieved: June 12, 2012.
Bibliography
Dolan, Edward F. Jr. Hollywood Goes to War. London: Bison Books, 1985. ISBN 0-86124-229-7.
Flood, Richard. "Reel crank - critic Manny Farber." Artforum, Volume 37, Issue 1, September 1998. ISSN 0004-3532.
Hardwick, Jack and Ed Schnepf. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies", in The Making of the Great Aviation Films. General Aviation Series, Volume 2, 1989.
Kinn, Gail and Jim Piazza. The Academy Awards: The Complete Unofficial History. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal, 2008. ISBN 978-1-57912-772-5.
Orriss, Bruce. When Hollywood Ruled the Skies: The Aviation Film Classics of World War II. Hawthorn, California: Aero Associates Inc., 1984. ISBN 0-9613088-0-X.
Thomson, David. Showman: The Life of David O. Selznick. London: Abacus, 1993. ISBN 978-0-2339-8791-0.
Thomson, David. "Wyler, William". A Biographical Dictionary of Film. London: Little, Brown, 2002. ISBN 0-316-85905-2.
External links[edit]
 Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Best Years of Our Lives
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Best Years of Our Lives.
The Best Years of Our Lives at the Internet Movie Database
The Best Years of Our Lives at AllMovie
The Best Years of Our Lives at the TCM Movie Database
The Best Years of Our Lives at the American Film Institute Catalog
The Best Years of Our Lives at Rotten Tomatoes
The Best Years of Our Lives detailed synopsis/analysis at Film Site by Tim Dirks
The Best Years of Our Lives film article at Reel Classics. Includes MP3s
The Best years of Our Lives Film in Focus Series
The Best Years of Our Lives at the Golden Years web site
Streaming audio[edit]
The Best Years of Our Lives on Screen Guild Theater: November 24, 1947
The Best Years of Our Lives on Screen Directors Playhouse: April 17, 1949

Awards
Preceded by
Going My Way Academy Award winner for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor Succeeded by
Ben-Hur


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Films directed by William Wyler

 





































 


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
The films of Samuel Goldwyn

 























 







































 




















 









 


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Academy Award for Best Picture

 


























 




























 




























 

















 


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
BAFTA Award for Best Film

 



























 



















































 


Authority control
VIAF: 236643846 ·
 GND: 7843149-9
 

  


Categories: 1946 films
English-language films
1940s drama films
American films
American war films
American drama films
Black-and-white films
World War II films
Aviation films
Films about amputees
Films based on military novels
Best Picture Academy Award winners
Films featuring a Best Actor Academy Award winning performance
Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award winning performance
Films whose director won the Best Director Academy Award
Films whose writer won the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award
Films that won the Best Original Score Academy Award
Films whose editor won the Best Film Editing Academy Award
Best Drama Picture Golden Globe winners
Best Film BAFTA Award winners
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
RKO Pictures films
Samuel Goldwyn Productions films
Films directed by William Wyler
United States National Film Registry films







Navigation menu



Create account
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Log in



Article

Talk





 



Read

Edit

View history










 






Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store

Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page

Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages
العربية
Български
Català
Čeština
Deutsch
Ελληνικά
Español
Esperanto
Euskara
فارسی
Français
Hrvatski
Italiano
עברית
Magyar
Македонски
Bahasa Melayu
Nederlands
日本語
Norsk bokmål
Polski
Português
Română
Русский
Српски / srpski
Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски
Suomi
Svenska
தமிழ்
Türkçe
中文
Edit links
This page was last modified on 29 September 2015, at 02:51.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki 
  
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_Years_of_Our_Lives