The ending
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Mrs. Miniver
countrygirltori — 17 years ago(June 13, 2008 07:30 PM)
SPOILERS!!!
I cry everytime Mrs. Beldon stands up by herself at church and then Clem joins her in singing. I also get a little teary when they show that empty seat next to the choir boys.
This ending is flawless and I remember the first time I watched it and I couldn't stop crying for a half hour. I guess these kind of movies about war really get me going. -
octoberbest — 17 years ago(August 18, 2008 11:36 AM)
Agreed. The speech is great, but as far as moving me to tears, nothing breaks me down like when Vin goes over to stand by his wife's grandmother and they sing together. Gotta love old movies.
Jesus loves me, this I know -
stargazer1701-1 — 16 years ago(October 05, 2009 09:22 AM)
Same here. Although, at first I thought little Toby was the one who was going to go to Mrs Beldons side. I am glad he didnt because that would have been to cute (and he was probably too young to understand what was going on around him).
Smoke me a kipper. Ill be back for breakfast -
thbryn — 16 years ago(October 17, 2009 09:31 PM)
This premiered 7 months after Pearl, the spring of '42. It was as some have stated a propaganda piece(when made) but at that point we had already been attacked so this emotional movie-making must have really hit home in an uncertain time.
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jporter-6 — 16 years ago(December 04, 2009 11:36 PM)
It wasn't propaganda. It was an attempt to get
Americans to understand what the British families
were going through during the Battle of Britain.
Americans living in America were separated by
thousands of miles of ocean from the Germans,
going to bed safely every night, going to movies
that weren't interrupted by air raids, and weren't
seeing civilians killed in wholesale lots by German
air raids. Seems to me to very simplistic to say
that a movie is propaganda when the people who say
it don't have a clue as to what it was like to
live in wartime Britain. -
tmf_scipio — 16 years ago(December 07, 2009 10:27 PM)
It was propaganda. The director said quite plainly that it was meant as propaganda. Churchill also commented on the power of this movie as being better than a fleet of destroyers (or something like that). That to me does not take anything away from this movie at all. Not all propaganda movies are the same type of propaganda Joseph Goebbels was producing.
Also, you contradicted your own statement. It was meant to show America what the British were going through. That's propaganda.
I personally liked the movie very much.
"Whenever Mrs. Kissell breaks wind, we beat the dog." -
mark-1589 — 15 years ago(July 06, 2010 11:13 AM)
jporter-6 seems to be laboring under the misimpression that the characterization of Mrs. Miniver as propaganda is meant as a criticism. Propaganda is not inherently bad; it can depend on the purposes for which it is used. This film was meant to stir up patriotism and convince Americans that the fight against the Nazis was a battle for civilization itself.
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jctennant55-892-30458 — 11 years ago(June 19, 2014 10:25 AM)
I agree in that Mrs. Miniver showed two things it gave the British a moral booster when they needed it most and to show America and the allies that Hitler could be beaten with sacrifice, courage, and faith. If some people look at the film as propaganda that is fine with me.
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dannieboy20906 — 11 years ago(June 19, 2014 11:10 AM)
There are several definitions of propaganda available on the internet. Below is the one from the Oxford English Dictionary:
noun
1chiefly derogatory Information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view:
he was charged with distributing enemy propaganda
I would argue that it is almost impossible to make a dramatic movie based on actual events (historical drama) that is not going to be viewed by at least some to contain propaganda. In fact, in usage about historical drama, propaganda is almost synonymous with drama. It verges on folly to label a dramatic film, as opposed to a documentary "propaganda."
Documentaries, on the other hand, made about a war while the war is ongoing or just after It is over, should be propagandistic. This is completely off topic and has more to do with political philosophy. Nevertheless, I argue in favor of wartime documentaries to be entirely on the side of the legitimately established government's position and totally against everybody else, especially all other nations. -
kenny-164 — 11 years ago(August 11, 2014 10:27 AM)
I also was not put off by the "propaganda" aspect of the film. In that connection I recommend seeing This Above All, also from 1942, with an excellent Joan Fontaine, also Robert Taylor, showing the effects of the earlier part of WWII on the English people.
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Trax-3 — 9 years ago(May 28, 2016 08:24 PM)
I also was not put off by the "propaganda" aspect of the film. In that connection I recommend seeing This Above All, also from 1942, with an excellent Joan Fontaine, also Robert Taylor, showing the effects of the earlier part of WWII on the English people.
Indeed, this film is propaganda, but that doesn't mean that it isn't good.
This Above All is also a quite good propaganda movie though not as good as this one.
Hollywood was making a lot of them and there are many that are indeed very mediocre or outright bad but some are not. -
mkelly54 — 9 years ago(April 15, 2016 07:30 PM)
Mrs. Minver is a propaganda piece, much like This Land is Mine with Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara. Numerous movies and books, like John Steinbeck's The Moon is Down, helped to maintain morale throughout Allied countries (Though The Moon is Down was originally written to stir underground forces in occupied countries to increase their efforts against the Germans).
The sense of hearth and home, family loss and strength under duress are common themes in propaganda. Some of Hollywood's efforts weren't as sophisticated as Mrs. Miniver, but they did deliver messages that enabled Allied countries to overcome the Axis countries of Germany, Japan and Italy. -
schuhj — 11 years ago(June 02, 2014 09:55 PM)
That the focus is on a Middle Class family, and an affluent one lent great impact. The scenes in the shelter, which begins with Clem look at the search lights across the river, and it seems that despite this the war is so far away. Then, finally it comes crashing in as they realize they might actually die.
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captaincarney — 9 years ago(May 22, 2016 10:31 PM)
One of the saddest movie's I've ever seen. Perhaps too sad for me to watch again over the last 10 years, but I want to see this one again. This and Pride of the Yankees made 1942 a sad emotional year.
"For he's a jolly good fellow" sung and the eulogy gave me chills. So much power in a near hopeless situation. -
HarvSoul — 1 month ago(January 31, 2026 08:25 AM)
That ending is a total emotional wrecking ball. It’s the ultimate "stiff upper lip" moment—showing that while the war takes almost everything, it can’t break that communal spirit
The Mrs. Miniver (1942) climax is legendary for its raw power, especially since it was released while the actual Blitz was still a terrifying reality for audiences. That shot of the empty seat next to the choir boys is such a simple, devastating way to visualize the hole left in a community after a loss.