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 was on public television here last night so of course I stayed home and watched it.  It's one of my favorite movies and if you've never seen it, I urge you to buy it, rent it or check it out of your local public library.  Aside from the fact that Greer Garson's husband was played by an American, Walter Pidgeon(were there no actual Englishmen floating around Hollywood at the time?), it is a great movie, very moving and even scary in spots.  And a movie like it could not and would not be made today.  It is far...