Mrs. Miniver or The Best Years of Our Lives?
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Euphrosyne — 16 years ago(October 11, 2009 12:01 AM)
I agree with you on this - BYOOL is a great movie, but it's all about the aftermath of the war.
I find 'Mrs. Miniver' to be much more powerful because they had no idea how it was going to end up.
Great movie - still holds up. -
spasek — 17 years ago(July 13, 2008 01:35 PM)
Man, that is a tough one! I also love both films, and are probably in my top 10 list of all-time favorites. Also, Teresa Wright is in both, and I just thought she played the down-to-earth, girl-next-door roles so well.
If I had to choose, Best Years of Our Lives would barely edge out Mrs. Miniver, for me. The story with Homer is touching for me every time that I watch it, and I liked the romantic storyline between Fred and Peggy.
You really can't go wrong at all with either one. The Vicar's speech at the end of Mrs. Miniver is one of the best speeches in cinematic history, in my opinion. -
jimbo97-1 — 17 years ago(July 14, 2008 10:42 AM)
Who cares? They both have TERESA WRIGHT!!
Her part is bigger in BEST YEARS, but both movies are GREAT for what they depict wartime and post-war, respectively.
Beyond a doubt, I recommend Hitchcock's SHADOW OF A DOUBT for an even better Teresa Wright characterization! She's just lovable! -
mark-1589 — 17 years ago(December 15, 2008 12:32 PM)
They are both superb films, but I would give the edge to The Best Years of our Lives. For obvious reasons, Mrs. Miniver had a very clear element of propoganda (which Wyler openly acknowledged) and in my view that element does not wear so well over time (but clearly was viewed as very important in its day). Also, I think part of what Mrs. Miniver was trying to do was to shock people into the reality of war by juxtaposing rather mundane things with the harsh reality (flower show or the extravagence of new hats vs. German soldiers threatening to destroy your city or air raids killing the elderly, women and children). Unfortunately, I found the portrayal of some of these everyday things to be both too melodramatic and sacharine. Certainly it doesn't ruin the film, but it is a flaw. The Best Years of Our LIves, on the other hand, was nearly flawless. It is unstintingly realistic, dealing with the issues without sentiment. The script, sets, cinematography, acting, and direction were all uniformly great - even if only by a certain degree, I think they were all better than in Mrs. Miniver. The speech ending Mrs. Miniver was fantastic, packing lots of emotional impact, but I think Best Years was uniformly better throughout the whole of the film.
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Clothes-Off — 17 years ago(January 16, 2009 07:55 PM)
Easy.
TBYoOL has definitely held up better over time. It has more sincerity and streaightforwardness, whereas MM went heavy on the propaganda, which MGM felt was necessary at the time to counteract people who were against the U.S. getting involved in WWII. (Lillian Gish held that opinion, but then she was known for her prejudice and anti-Semitism.)
Last year TCM aired a documentary about Wyler, and his friend playwright Lillian Hellman told him upfront she thought MM was his weakest effort as a filmmaker!
"Well, for once the rich white man is in control!"
C. M. Burns -
simplemines — 17 years ago(January 23, 2009 02:18 AM)
I don't think Lillian Hellman's opinion on World War 2 carries a whole lot of weight. She was an avid Stalin supporter; in fact, before the american involvement in WW2, she had served on a committee to keep the US OUT of the war.
Hellman changed her mind in a minute when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union and was no longer an ally of Stalin. -
thbryn — 16 years ago(October 17, 2009 09:17 PM)
I might not be giving BYOOL a fair shake as I've seen MM maybe 10/1, times viewed.
I look at MM as a call to war and BY' as a realization that post-war problems would exist for a generation and shouldn't be forgotten.
I'd say both were important films with BY' the less entertaining but more socially significant work. -
SpitfireIXB — 16 years ago(February 06, 2010 02:02 AM)
@ladylavende
I'm with you on this, The Best Years of Our Lives [current IMDb rating 8.2] is indeed a superior movie to Mrs. Miniver [current IMDb rating 7.7] - in every cinematic way. The ratings say it all.
This message has not yet been deleted by an IMDb administrator. -
bhoover247 — 16 years ago(February 26, 2010 11:15 AM)
They are both great movies, but my vote goes to The Best Years Of Our Lives. One reason in addition to it being the better drama, was that BYOOL dealt with the war from the perspective of Americans. Mrs. Miniver dealing with people in England being bombed had less chance for ambivalence among the characters.
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raketex — 16 years ago(February 26, 2010 11:09 AM)
I have to say that I believe "The Best Years of Our Lives" has just so many unusual, and "just right," set pieces and characters in it that it strikes a special place in me. I can watch it over and over (in part or in whole) whenever it's on TCM just to admire the quality put into every aspect of it. In that respect, it is more like a view into real life, with all of its attendant ups and downs, that just happens to have been recorded as a movie.
On the other hand, "Mrs. Miniver" is more a melodramatic movie-movie. As good as it is, you never lose sight of the fact that it is a "story-movie."
On the plus side, "The Best Years" and "Mrs. Miniver" both feature two of what I consider the most attractive actresses of their time - Myrna Loy and Greer Garson. In fact, if you look closely, they even seem to have some of the same facial expressions with their characteristically wide-eyed look. (Their arching eyebrows and eyeshadow certainly accentuated that beautiful feature of theirs.)
And then as an added bonus, you also get that fresh-faced, yet beguiling, child-woman Teresa Wright in both movies! -
kathymac1443 — 15 years ago(August 19, 2010 10:42 PM)
Mrs Miniver by far for me. I'm a war baby and "The Best Years of Our Lives" doesn't do it for me. I'm not even sure why. It had great acting but just lacked something for me. On the other hand "Mrs. Miniver" was supurb and delightful. Maybe it was Greer and Walter.