Summer film series : Mrs. Miniver
Date
6:00 PM | film begins
Location
Admission
RSVP required
About the Film
(b/w, 133 minutes, 1942) This warm and engaging US made melodrama follows the lives and travails of a seemingly storybook-happy, middle class, British family. It is set in a small village in the days before America joined with its European Allies to fight in WWII.
It was both a huge patriotic and commercial hit. The highest grossing US film of 1942, it won 6 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director (William Wyler), Best Actress Greer Garson (as Mrs Miniver), and Best Supporting Actress Teresa Wright. Wright played Carol Beldon, the fiancé of the Miniver’s RAF pilot son Vin, heroically played by Richard Ney. (Side note: Ney and Garson later married though he was 12 years her junior.)
Other strong performances in this affecting story of quiet courage in wartime include: Walter Pigeon (Clem) as the stalwart paterfamilias (he participates in the rescue flotilla of small private boats who evacuated over 380,000 Brits from Dunkirk in 1940), Dame May Whitty as Lady Beldon, and Henry Travers as the village station master and indefatigable rose cultivator, Mr Ballard.
Winston Churchill praised the film as a “serious and effective work of propaganda: more powerful to the war than the combined work of six military divisions”. Interestingly, Wyler began shooting the film in November 1941, just weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The film was released in June 1942.
We programed this film to coincide with the the 82nd anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion of June 6, 1944.
Come early to gather in the lower level of the Club and grab a beverage at the legendary Wiggins Bar. Screenings will begin promptly afterwards in the Rockwell gallery.
Hungry?
After the film, we’ll move into the Club dining room for a delicious dinner and lively discussion. Ticketed attendees who would love to join us may make a reservation via our Reservations page and include the message “Film Series dinner”. On the day of the screening, those wishing to dine must place their orders prior to the start of the film.
About the Summer Film Series
Are you looking for fun things to do this season? Movie dates are always a go-to option! Brought to you by the Salmagundi Program Committee, Club members Barbara Genco and Michael Rosenfeld will be hosting a carefully curated film series. This series is a chance for film enthusiasts to come together at the start of the weekend for a shared cinematic experience. All are welcome to participate in a casual conversation covering a variety of viewpoints.
The selection of films have been carefully curated based on their renown as old favorites, good reception, and have remained a source of timeless interest.