Free Republic

When the 15th Academy Awards kicked off at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub at the Ambassador Hotel on the evening of March 4, 1943, MGM's Mrs. Miniver was up for a staggering dozen nominations, and ended up walking away with six, including top of the marquee trophies for best picture, director, actress, supporting actress and screenplay. Greer Garson gave a record-setting six-minute acceptance speech; the next longest was given by Hilary Swank in 2000, winning best actress for playing what we'd now be obliged to call a trans man in Boys Don't Cry. Mrs. Miniver was up against The Magnificent Ambersons,...

MRS MINIVER : Moving drama about middle class English family learning to cope with war. Winner of six Academy Awards--for Garson, Wright, director Wyler, and Best Picture, among others--this film did much to rally American support for our British allies during WW2, though its depiction of English life

It was movie night around No-house again, and last night's was a sentimental beauty: Random Harvest starring Ronald Colman, Greer Garson, and the lovely Susan Peters. The movie is based on a book by James Hilton who also wrote the novels-turned-movies Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939, starring Garson) and Lost Horizon (1937, starring Colman). Set in England, the story involves an amnesiac, John Smith, who lost all memory in a French foxhole during WWI. Ronald Colman is spectacular in the role. His face is a veritable exemplar of emotional complexity, puzzlement, confusion, frustration and resignation. He is simply pathetic, and lovable,...