GROANS FOR "MRS. MINIVER"

New Zealand Listener, Volume 8, Issue 187, 22 January 1943, Page 17

GROANS FOR "MRS. MINIVER"

HAT heading, "Groans for Mrs. Miniver," is an echo of the headline "Cheers for Mrs. Miniver" under. which I. reviewed this M-G-M film two weeks ago, and it is occasioned by several critical comments on the film which The Listener has received since then. Frankly, I cannot remember any production of recent months which more fully justifies the publicity claim to be a film that "the whole town is talking about," and it is interesting (and one might almost say encouraging), that so much of the talk is intelligently critical. Writing before my teview appeared, one correspondent said, "My faith in your little man will wane ‘if he does anything but slump, incredibly bored, in his chair" — which means, presumably, that his faith must by now have waned almost to vanishing point, because there was the little man, not recumbent, but upright and enthusiastic. I do not, of course, apologise for the little fellow’s behaviour; at the same time, it is important that the other viewpoint should be aired. Here is one letter: Sir,-I am English, and saw the blitz at close quarters, but Mrs. Miniver left me cold. Trying to think why, I came to the conclusion that the film has all the trappings of England without a jot of its spirit. English boys: do not emote all over their parents, especially when down from Oxford. An Oxford man might be as green as the son in the picture, but never as gauche. Not a corner. of the Miniver mansion rang true, nor did the fact. that Mrs. M. had no evacuees and no war duties of any kind. All the glamorous war adventures happened to this family and none of the irritating, boring, everyday grind that has really shown the spirit of England. ‘The film was lush, loud, emphatic, where England is dry, subtle, and reserved. Those M-G-M dollars got in the way as a Apo: Miniver is probably good senentertainment, but as a picture of it is phoney.-H.W. (Wellington). "Gross’ Over-Simplification" And here are the chief points of criticism in a long letter from another correspondent, Sgm. Bruce Mason (in a military’ camp): "I would describe Mrs. Miniver as a routine’ film; a collection of routine people doing routine things . . . All the old stagers are there: the sour old female diehard whose bulk and acidity conceal a heart of old gold; the bead old station-master, the clumsy, id, the kindly, discursive grocer, nthe village held under the very shadow of the Luftwaffe, and, of course, local choristers fluting away in uneasy abandon. All very amusing, but pre-1914. The foreword of the picture is the grossest over-simplification of the present war I have yet seen. It refers smoothly to the blithe and England of 1939 and the English "‘way fe" which the aggressor threatened to yo of One _can understand the Minivers’ indignation. Their way of life is charming. A ao house, a car, servants, make — fel is business which I would like fi is. 5 apically English. Unfortunately, it is the film cunningly insinuates thet it ies = If Mr. Miniver does anything, ‘it is not apparent: he must have some very shares. I am informed that living on this scale is true of about two per cent of the * English Rapes ig = murports to be America’s tribute to the Pg. ad in their hours of stress. cok Mbt aa; witcha: ta 00 ‘ doubt most. satisfactory to Messrs. MetroGol ~Mayer, whose continued existence Sut ea or and Lady Beldons. This Lejeune was Lyrical Even though I cannot wholly agree with them, these are good letters, and

the comment from an Englishman who experienced the blitz is particularly worthwhile. On this point, however, I took the trouble to turn up the review of the film by Miss C, A. Lejeune, noted critic of the London Observer, who must have been in at least as good a position to judge the English spirit under blitz conditions. Yet, as you can see, her review is positively lyrical. : + + « » The plain fact remains that Mrs. is the most moving, sensitive, and inspirational film that has come out of the war yet in any country. Doubtless we could have made a better film of England at war here at home, but doubtless we never did, as Dr. Butler said of God and the Mrs. Miniver presents a family of English country people ... with an insight that is little short of magical. It is years since I remember being so touched by any film. ...s ." "We Take Grave Exception" As against this, my attention has been drawn to comment on Mrs. M. by a writer in the English Documentary Newsletter for August, 1942, in which he joins issue with Miss Lejeune. In fact, he takes almost the same line as Bruce Mason above, and follows it even more implacably: "Mrs. Miniver is not one of the easiest films to review, because in some ways it is very good, and in a lot of others it is just repulsive. You can sit in the theatre and hear practically the whole house weeping-a British audience with three years of war behind it, crying at one of the phoniest war films that has ever been made. So you can tell it is well made, superlatively well made. It is hard to be unkind to Mrs. Miniver, because William Wyler is such a good director, but the film is so untrue that it has got to be done. . . "If the film made. a _ less_ strenuous attempt to be realistic, one could have accepted it for its entertainment value. But the film sets out to tell’ a ‘true story of , blitzed England and comes too close to a historical. record to treat it thus lightly, We therefore take grave exception to the view that the Minivers' were and are the backbone of Britain. The subject of the film is important and the excellence of the film is important, so the impact on audiences. of this Hollywood idea of Britain’s behaviour in wartime is of some moment. The Minivers, or people like them, were there under the bombing © (though the little Minivers were assuredly tucked away in a safe area and 1 20 eee too), but the Minivers were in minority. ‘The cooks and housemaids, grocers and stationmasters, bargees and tugmen were ervarree A there in the middle of it, and overwhelmingly in the majority. . . . It is a pity that so much ability has been misused by an allied country in presenting Britain so badly. "The Best People’s War" And here, in brief, is similar comment from William Whitebait, critic of The New Statesman: "Mrs. Miniver sets out to be as English as can be, and up to a point succeeds, But most that Mrs. Miniver achieves is an easy pathos; sentimentality (and class sentimentality at that), takes on a tone of holiness, of smug simplicity, which, personally, I found it rather difficult to bear. "This is a people’s war,’ says the vicar, delivering a sermon in his bombed church; but it isn’t, it is only (look ~ round at the faces, look back over the story!) the. best people’s war. In fact Mrs. Miniver seemed to me for the most part as remote as old drawings in Punch; but it is‘ successful in its genre I don’t for a moment deny." * ® * Explanation, Not Excuses Since this controversy was started by correspondence, it may be appropriate for me to use the same method of reply, in the form of a letter’ to the soldier who saene from camp:

of course, making excuses for him. He just didn’t see the picture in exactly the same light as you. But partly he did, as you will admit, and he got off his chest the very same line of criticism as you-that Mrs. Miniver does not deal with The People of, England, but only with the very small minority who live on about £2,000 a year. But the difference was that, having got this off his chest, he was able to enjoy the show, whereas it apparently coloured and spoiled your enter. tainment throughout. For myself, however, while I think that, to put it mildly, Hollywood producers have got things badly out of perspective, and that their preoccupation with the status quo and with what they themselves regard as "the good way of life" is easily the most disturbing (and even sinister), aspect of modern film-maki: I think at the same time that there is a danger that critics like ts may get. things almost equally out of perspective. The foreword to Mrs. Miniver was, of course, a misleading over-simplification: but I think it was sufficient for me to make that point, as I did, and then go on to appreciate the film’s manifest good qualities. And, speaking as one who hopes to see a great social and economic change coming from the war, this was even, I suggest, better tactics than an all-out tal assault. Obviously, the vast majority picturegoers will quite sincerely (and rightly), enjoy Mrs. Miniver, and will regard it as a "beautiful picture," and to have concentrated on scoffing at it because of its over simplification and subtle distortion would merely have annoyed them and stiffened their resistance, whereas my less. direct approach (in which I made my point and then passed on), was perhaps more effective. You military people call this the method of attack by infiltration, I believe." af i