Mrs. Miniver is a 1942 American romantic war drama film directed by William Wyler, and starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon.

Inspired by the 1940 novel Mrs. Miniver by Jan Struther,[3] it shows how the life of an unassuming British housewife in rural England is affected by World War II.

Early one morning, Kay wanders down to the landing stage and discovers a wounded German pilot hiding in her garden.

Lady Beldon visits Kay to try to convince her to talk Vin out of marrying Carol on account of her granddaughter's comparative youth at age eighteen and short engagement.

During an air raid, Kay and her family take refuge in their Anderson shelter in the garden and attempt to keep their minds off the bombing by reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

As air raid sirens sound and the villagers take refuge in the cellars of Beldon Hall, Kay and Carol drive Vin to join his squadron.

James Ballard, stationmaster and bellringer, and the proud winner only an hour before his death of the Beldon Cup for his beautiful Miniver Rose.

And our hearts go out in sympathy to the two families who share the cruel loss of a young girl who was married at this altar only two weeks ago.

And it must be fought not only on the battlefield, but in the cities and in the villages, in the factories and on the farms, in the home and in the heart of every man, woman, and child who loves freedom.

Vin moves to stand alongside her, united in grief, as the members of the congregation sing "Onward, Christian Soldiers".

The key difference was that in the new version of the scene, filmed in February 1942, Mrs. Miniver was allowed to slap the pilot across the face.

[10] The speech "made such an impact that it was used in essence by President Roosevelt as a morale builder and part of it was the basis for leaflets printed in various languages and dropped over enemy and occupied territory".

Historian Tony Judt wrote that it was "a very English tale of domestic fortitude and endurance, of middle-class reticence and perseverance, set symptomatically around the disaster at Dunkirk where all these qualities were taken to be most on display—[it] was a pure product of Hollywood.

The website's critical consensus reads: "An excessively sentimental piece of propaganda, Mrs. Miniver nonetheless succeeds, due largely to Greer Garson's powerful performance.

In 2009, it was named to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically" significant:[15] This remarkably touching wartime melodrama pictorials the classic British stiff upper lip and the courage of a middle-class English family (headed by Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon) amid the chaos of air raids and family loss.

The film's iconic tribute to the sacrifices on the home front, as movingly directed by William Wyler, did much to rally America's support for its British allies.

Greer Garson makes motherhood seem the profession of impeccable taste and Walter Pidgeon acts the wise father by smoking a pipe, nodding his head knowingly and saying nothing…The older son is a mother’s delight from Oxford, and the two little Minivers make those irritating and unchildlike smart cracks because it’s the one device known these days for comedy relief in family pictures…the difference between these people and their originals in Jan Struther’s novel is the difference between marshmallows and human beings.

[17] Joseph Goebbels, minister of Nazi propaganda, wrote: [Mrs. Miniver] shows the destiny of a family during the current war, and its refined powerful propagandistic tendency has up to now only been dreamed of.

Not that it shows anything like the result of lack of planning by governments or individuals, but in that it brings so close to home the effects of total war.[20]Mrs.