This film gets off to a REALLY slow start, so slow in fact that it may lose some viewers if it airs on television. However, it is worth staying with for Garson's performance as well as the rest of the ensemble cast, once the dramatic stakes are raised. The film really does show the impact of war on civilians more than other films of the day, and the long set-up starts to make sense later in the film when we really start pulling for this family.
I do think that this is one of the more dated of the Best Picture Academy Award winners of the era. (This was right before Casablanca raised the bar significantly.) It is undoubtedly the best-known of the TEN Best Picture nominees from that year (aside from The Magnificent Ambersons), but one could argue it was a week year at the Oscars in general. The film for which I would have voted, Now Voyager, wasn't even nominated! Just goes to show you what the mentality was like in the early 1940s--propaganda over substance.
The one good thing about this film winning Best Picture is that it increases the likelihood of Greer Garson being seen by movie buffs, and she deserves that. Fans of director William Wyler can obviously find better movies in his filmography. Grade for this film: B-
I do think that this is one of the more dated of the Best Picture Academy Award winners of the era. (This was right before Casablanca raised the bar significantly.) It is undoubtedly the best-known of the TEN Best Picture nominees from that year (aside from The Magnificent Ambersons), but one could argue it was a week year at the Oscars in general. The film for which I would have voted, Now Voyager, wasn't even nominated! Just goes to show you what the mentality was like in the early 1940s--propaganda over substance.
The one good thing about this film winning Best Picture is that it increases the likelihood of Greer Garson being seen by movie buffs, and she deserves that. Fans of director William Wyler can obviously find better movies in his filmography. Grade for this film: B-