Best Actress: Greer Garson

Confession time: I thought this was called Mrs. Min-eye-ver for the longest time. How gauche!

gif by me

As realistic and complete a portrait of a wartime family living through the horrors of the Second World War as any film that was made during the period. There's a reason why both Churchill and the Nazi regime said Mrs. Miniver did so much for pro-Allied powers. 

Anchored by Greer Garson as the titular Mrs. Miniver, we see every horror that strikes her little village of Belham as war creeps in. There's the whisperings of what's happening on the Continent; then there are air raids; there's a Nazi in her garden; her husband (played dashingly, but when is he not dashing, by Walter Pidgeon) sails off with his boat to aid in the evacuation of Dunkirk; her eldest son (more on him later*) enlists, but not before finding love with the granddaughter of Lady Beldon (played by Teresa Wright); and finally, the town is bombed, leading to a poignantly patriotic ending. 

Point is: if Mrs. Miniver can survive every obstacle, then the rest of us can (could) too. And in order to sell that point, you need an actress who can handle the humanity of Mrs. Miniver without getting preachy, saccharine or bombastic. She needs to be a fully-realized woman witnessing the horrors and reality of war in real time. Who else but Greer Garson could've played Mrs. Miniver?** 

It bums me out that Greer is largely forgotten today, only known for her record-setting Oscar acceptance speech and perhaps as the narrator of The Little Drummer Boy (but when was the last time you caught that on cable?). She was a very human actress, in my opinion. A classic English rose who could match any Hollywood heavyweight, and you rooted for her every time. 

Of course she would excel in the role of Kay Miniver.

In 1942, Greer was nominated against Bette Davis (Now, Voyager), Katharine Hepburn (Woman of the Year), Rosalind Russell (My Sister Eileen), and Teresa Wright, her Miniver co-star, in another role (The Pride of the Yankees). Teresa was also nominated in the Supporting Actress category for Mrs. Miniver and won.

Another year of classic performances with staying power. If there hadn't been a war on, there wouldn't have been a Mrs. Miniver at all. Maybe you reward Bette Davis again? Or Katharine, who was re-emerging from a period of 'box office poison' with a string of hits starting with 1940's The Philadelphia Story.

When Mrs. Miniver came out, Greer was in the middle of a stretch of back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back Oscar nominations (Blossoms in the Dust, Mrs. Miniver, Madame Curie, Mrs. Parkington, and The Valley of Decision), a feat only match by Bette Davis, who was doing it at the same time (Jezebel, Dark Victory, The Letter, The Little Foxes, and Now, Voyager). 

One more fun fact from me before we hit the road: Greer held the record, for 80-odd years, of the longest speech in Oscars history. Until Adrien Brody broke it this past March, when he won for The Brutalist. Some say he's still giving that speech. I know I still feel like I'm hearing it in the background...

DID I LIKE MRS. MINIVER? Yes. There's something harrowing about watching it under the current political landscape, though!

__

Did you like Mrs. Miniver? What are your thoughts on Greer Garson's Oscar win? 

Keep up with all my Rewatching the Best Actresses posts here. 

*After Mrs. Miniver, Greer would marry the actor who played her son in this film, Richard Ney. There was a 12-year age gap, no judgement on my end, and the marriage ended in divorce in 1947. In 1950, a sequel to Mrs. Miniver came out, and Ney did not reprise his role... 

**The only other actress I can think of is Deborah Kerr, if this had been made a few years later.