Charlton Heston Top Ten

 1. Ben Hur (1959)

2. Greatest Show on Earth (1952)

3. Ten Commandments (1956)

4. El Cid (1961)

5. Omega Man (1971)

6. Soylent Green (1972)

7. Naked Jungle (1954)

8. Three Musketeers (1973)

9. Planet of the Apes (1968)

10, Major Dundee (1965) - excellent performance

This was a really easy list to compile. Unlike many stars of his generation, Heston had a strong 70s.

Movie review - "The Heiress" (1949) ***1/2

 Adaptation of Henry James is done with tremendous style and care, with Olivia de Havilland playing Hollywood ugly, i.e. still gorgeous but playing plain, and her acting is very good. So too are Ralph Richardson has her mean father, Montgomery Clift as the fortune hunter and Miriam Hopkins as her sympathetic aunt.

I can get why this wasn't a big hit - it's a downer (he is a fortune hunter, Richardson dies, de Havilland winds up with money but is mean). The strength of the piece is that Richardson and Clift are right in a way to do what they do but cruel - and de Havilland learns that lesson. The one nice and smart person is Miriam Hopkins who knows de Havilland may as well pay for Clift's love.

It's very well made. Acted. Clift's nervous energy gives his handsome lout freshness.

I did wonder if the costumes needed to be that opulent and if you needed all those extras dancing.

Book review - "Five Came Back" by Mark Harris

 Excellent look at the war career of top directors. A lot I was already familiar with but some stuff was fresh. The filmmakers spent a lot of time on these documentaries. They are lively characters - George Stevens whose life was changed, party boy John Huston, angsty Frank Capra, driven William Wyler. Entertaining.

Documentary review - "Five Came Back" (2016) ****

Lots of books get written about Hollywood, but only a few get the deluxe documentary treatment - I'm guessing this got up because it focuses on directors who were so idolised by A list baby boom directors who agreed to appear on camera - this has Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Guillermo de Toro, Lawrence Kasdan, Paul Greengrass.

It is a good story - some leading Hollywood directors going off to war and being affected by the experiences: John Huston, John Ford, George Stevens, William Wyler, Frank Capra. All were characters of very different stripes: Huston was an adventurer, who couldn't help bucking against army authority, making several masterpieces including one on PTSD; Ford loved the military, probably had a high old time but was affected by it - took great delight in tormenting John Wayne while making They Were Expendable, and saw action; Wyler was a Jew, very conscious of the Jewish issues underlying the war; Capra was an Italian-American patriot (well they were all patriots), determined to show his new country how loyal he was; Stevens a great liberal.

The war affected them in several ways: Capra never really recovered his former position; Stevens lost his sense of humour.

The fact this is a documentary means you can see the films, especially important for the war films. The directors interviewed, not surprisingly, are good communicators. It's very touching how much del Toro feels a kinship for Capra, and Spielberg and Coppola's enthusiasm is always winning. Kasdan is a very bright analyst.

Book review - "A Letter of Introduction: The Life and Films of James Stephenson" by David a. Redfern (2013)

James Stephenson was a slim British gentleman best known for one performance - and it's a fantastic one, the lawyer in The Letter. But really that was it. He may have added to the tally but he died shortly after The Letter, of a heart attack, aged 53. Still, he inspired enough devotion from David Redfern to write a very thorough biography on him.

Stephenson was born into a reasonably prosperous middle class family in northern England. Fir the first part of his life he was a good boy and did the right thing - appropriate school, war service in World War One, working as a bank clerk and a merchant (including a stint in China). He got the acting bug relatively late in life and starting performing in amateur theatricals. He had looks, height, presence and a beautiful speaking voice and eventually decided to take the plunge and go professional. There was work to be had in rep and also British quota quickies. Stephenson didn't appear in the more memorable British films of the time but he did come under the eye of Irving Asher who ran Warner Bros' London operation and spotted Errol Flynn and Patric Knowles... he thought Stephenson had possibilities for Hollywood and so Warners paid him to come over.

Stephenson was screen tested by Warners who elected to keep him and put him in lots of small roles - there were plenty of parts for authoritative British actors during the late 30s at Warners. He pops up in movies like Boys Meets Girl and Nancy Drew. His parts grew better in the B movie division like King of the Underworld and Devil's Island and he had bits in As such as The Sea Hawk and The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex. Warners eventually gave him a lead in Calling Philo Vance and he eventually was cast in The Letter.  This earned him an Oscar nomination; if it didn't propel Stephenson to stardom, Warners were impressed - he had good roles in Shining Victory and International Squadron.

How big a star would James Stephenson have become? This is all hypothetical of course but I think, not very - he lacked great individuality, he was too old by the time he "made it". However I think he would have had a long, impressive career - the sort of actor who would have benefited from the decline of the Hollywood studios and the rise of quality in Britain; I can see him hopping back and forth across the Atlantic, doing lots of Broadway and TV in between films, maybe getting a TV show, playing a lot of leading men to aging female stars and generals and dads, never being a great star but never being out of work. Alas, it was not to be.

Redfern's biography is exhaustive and would have to be definitive - he had access to family papers and really fleshes out Stephenson's history. It feels almost a shame to report that Stephenson didn't have that interesting a life - he was a decent guy, seemed to live well; the most outlandish thing he did was to go into acting. He was a gentleman - no outrageous sex life, or bad habits. Which leaves his work and the movies he made on the whole weren't that awesome.

Still I did enjoy the book. Stephenson was lucky to have a biographer as devoted as Redfern. 

Movie review - "The Big Country" (1958) *** (warning: spoilers)

A good, solid Western story is perhaps given over-reverential treatment. This seemed to happen sometime with epic Westerns - I'm thinking of Duel in the Sun and The Outlaw - they were given all this weight.

Gregory Peck is ideally cast as the former sailor who goes out west to marry sexy little minx Carroll Baker, only to discover that Baker's dad Charles Bickford is engaged in a feud with rival owner Burl Ives; Bickford's overseer Charlton Heston loves Baker and thus hates Peck; Burl Ives' son Chuck Connors doesn't really want to be involved in the feud; Baker's friend Jean Simmons falls for Peck.

Those are juicy roles - characters with clearly defined, contrasting objectives, and for the most part this is strong drama. It's got a decent theme - Peck doesn't want to get dragged into a pointless feud, and Baker thinks she's cowardly.

The ending doesn't quite work, full of contrived moments (Ives shooting Connors, Bickford and Ives shooting each other with duelling pistols). It also has unsatisfactory moments: we never find out what happened to Baker, the romance between Peck and Simmons is undercooked.

Strong performances from Bickford and Ives; Heston makes an effective villain. I like Baker - her throaty voice and blonde looks gives intensity to the part. Jean Simmons is a winsome "whatever"; some writers like William Goldman adore Simmons but honestly I could take her or leave her. Much of the action is filmed in long shot. The photography and music are stirring.

Book review - "Fredric March: A Consumate Actor" by Charles Tranberg

March was an odd actor - very well respected and talented, technically a star (he headlined numerous popular movies) but not very well remembered today, despite winning two Oscars. The main reason I think is that he wasn't a personality star like say Errol Flynn, Bogart or Gary Grant - you never hear someone call a part a "Fredric March type character" or a "Fredric March" vehicle. He really was a character actor with leading man looks. So many times in his career he seemed to get a role that someone else turned down - Fred March was the star you had to settle for.

Still it was an amazing career with a swag of classic films. He deserved a book although his life wasn't super exciting - small town upbringing, well off family, he attended college and went into banking but got the acting bug. It didn't actually take that long for him to make it - he had talent, enthusiasm and looks (it's always easiest if you're a good looking young guy) - and was soon a name on stage, being particularly regarded for his John Barrymore turn in The Royal Family. Then it was off to Hollywood, where he signed for a time with Paramount then freelanced successfully: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Barretts of Wimpole Street, Nothing Sacred, The Buccaneer.

Towards the end of the 30s he returned to the stage, which he gets props for doing because he was still much in demand as a movie star. I think he did it to make his wife happy but ultimately it proved to be a smart move (as Charles Tingwell once said, if you look after the acting the career will take care of itself) and his Broadway career would thrive when his star roles got less impressive - in the 50s he was no longer a box office draw, but he was a Broadway draw. March liked to blame the down turn in his movie carer on the fact he was accused of being a Communist; now that may have had a little bit to do with it, but I think more important was the fact that he appeared in a bunch of flops in the late 40s, he was getting on in years, and also he didn't fall back into some sure fire commercial genre like Westerns to stay in the public eye.

March didn't always do good work but he never sold out, always pushed himself; he seems to have been a joy for directors to work with - conscientious, diligent, aware of his tendency to ham, very open to new talents and directors, like Paddy Chayefsky and Elia Kazan when they were starting out, saying that films were getting better instead of whining about the old days. He also had excellent relationships with people like William Wyler and John Frankenheimer. This meant he was always in work, right up to the end - and it was consistently varied and interesting work too: The Best Years of Our Lives, Long Day's Journey Into Night, Gideon, Inherit the Wind, Hombre.

He was married for along time to Florence Elridge, always overshadowing her in terms of career success (on films and stage) and popularity with people - but they clearly relied on each other; he seemed to need her discipline and drive, and political nous (he was more a little boy); he was protective of her, promoted her career, and she would tolerate his many infidelities and constant on-set lechery (March was very much pro-sexual harassment in the work place). Their marriage reads like one of those arrangements where the wife basically mothers the husband. I doubt he would have accomplished half as much without her.

They adopted two kids - got along well with the girl but the boy was more of a handful, getting into trouble with the law and eventually dying in a car crash. (I wouldn't have minded more about their son actually.)

But this is a fine book, a worth tribute to a good actor and not particularly memorable star.

Book review - "Hollywood Enigma: Dana Andrews" by Carl Rollyson

I remember watching Dana Andrews in The Best Years of Our Lives and thinking "why didn't he become a big star?" He seemed to have it all - looks, presence, charisma, a sense of masculinity, draft exempt status during the war, plus genuine acting talent. He did pretty well as a star but never made the top rank - this book helps explain why.

Partly it was his persona, which was never really strong in the way say Gable, Bogart, Flynn or even Raft could be (try doing a Dana Andrews impersonation and see how you go). Andrews could be too unobtrusive - he was an excellent second lead. Part of it was the fact he often seemed to coast in films, and needed a good director (e.g. Wyler, Wellman, Preminger) to get him going, when the truly great actors can surpass lousy direction.

Partly - and mostly - it was the alcoholism. Andrews was a big drinker, even by the standards of the day; for a while he could carry it off but you can't put it away consistently and have it not affect you. In the 50s and 60s it meant he became unprofessional and would have cost him work.

Still, it was an amazing career. He put in a long apprenticeship in stock (he trained as an opera singer), was fortunate enough to have some people who wanted to support him financially, but once he got a break it happened for him relatively quickly - signed by Goldwyn, who shared his contract with Fox, he got showy parts in some good movies, and the absence of leading men in war time saw him move to the forefront. 

Look at the directors he worked with: Hawks, Ford, Wyler, Hathaway, Renoir, Preminger, Kazan, Lang. Even when his career declined in the 50s - with the fall of the studio system it was probably inevitable that it would dip (Goldwyn's faltering touch didn't help) - he still remained in demand: handsome, masculine actors always seem to find work, if only playing generals.

His personal life was marked with great tragedy: his first wife and son pre-deceased him, he grew up very poor, he died of Alzheimers. Bottling up all this is probably what contributed to his alcoholism - and made him so interesting on screen.

This is a very good biography, excellently researched. It's a little confusing that the author refers to Andrews as "Dana" and "Carver" (his real name) but there are some excellent sources (such as private letters including to his early girlfriends) and strong analysis of his best performances.

Movie review - "The Westerner" (1940) ***

This starts off great, with a wonderful performance by Walter Brennan as the corrupt, humorous Lily Langtry-obsessed Judge Roy Bean... well to be fair it's not too dissimilar to his other performances but Brennan always made a good villain, especially here because he's a sympathetic one. 

The first half hour is great with Gary Cooper avoiding the noose by pretending to know Lily Langtry. The photography by Gregg Tolland is stunning, its handled with William Wyler's customary care, and you think it's interesting when the father of one of the homesteaders sends his daughter out to seduce Cooper so he will stay. But then when Cooper gets away it goes all conventional with him taking the sides of the homesteaders, and trying to broker a peace, and Brennan getting upset that Cooper doesn't love him anymore.

This really should have had Cooper trying to preserve his neck for most of the movie - they could have easily had the homesteaders want to kill him - but its like they couldn't bare Coop to play anyone even a bit naughty (he's not even a horse thief). The woman he hooks up with is a dull nagger, Coop does his stoic slightly retarded bit. There are some effectively shot scenes like the fire and the final confrontation with Cooper appearing on stage, and Brennan meeting Langtry.

Movie review - "Come and Get It" (1936) ***

Howard Hawks didn't always collaborate peacefully with Sam Goldwyn (to put it bluntly) but there's a lot of fun to be had in this adaptation of Edna Ferber's novel, especially in the first third, with spectacular photography of the logging industry (trees crashing down, things being blown up, snow capped mountains, etc), fun and games with Edward Arnold and Walter Brennan palling around in a saloon with Frances Farmer. But then Arnold goes off to marry a rich man's daughter, we jump forward twenty or so years and the action slows down. You can see what's going to happen (Farmer's daughter will fall for Arnold's son Joel McCrea) so you're just watching it all play out.

Arnold wasn't a typical movie hero, being very large and imposing - indeed, he only enjoyed a few years as a leading man before being shunted off to character parts - but he's effective here. He has drive and passion - you can buy that sassy Farmer would be interested in him. Farmer is great in the double role, especially as the singer - tough, sexy, lonesome, longing, etc. Joel McCrea impresses as Arnold's son - I aways remembered the "hey dad I've invented this thing it's called a paper cup" scene. There are nice scenes between Arnold and his daughter, Andrea Leeds (who reminded me of Olivia de Havilland). She marries some handsome lunk, Frank Shields, who they might have been experimenting as a star in waiting - I googled him, he was a tennis player. He acts like one. Walter Brennan is effective in his role as a very dim friend (he never seems to realise Arnold wants to bang his daughter).

William Wyler reshot lots of this after Sam Goldwyn expressed disapproval with the cut. There are some "Hawksian bits" e.g. early banter between Joel McCrea and Frances Farmer over making candy - which might have been directed by Wyler. Some of the soft lighting close ups of Farmer towards the end feel very Wyler.

Radio review - Lux - "The Westerner" (1940) ***1/2

Maybe Walter Brennan wasn't a great actor but he was a great personality, and never more effectively cast than as Judge Roy Bean, the ruthless, Lily Langtry-worshipping law West of the Pecos who is hoodwinked by horse thief Gary Cooper, which makes Bean surprisingly sympathetic - even when later on Cooper picks up the cause of the homesteaders against Bean. Doris Davenport repeats her film role too as the woman who basically spots Cooper as good husband material and sets about converting him. Cooper later whinged that Brennan's part outshone him, which it does, but the fact his character is initially a bit duplicitous makes him a lot more interesting than usual.

Script review – “The Best Years of Out Lives” by Robert Sherwood

At one stage this was the second most popular film of all time but who remembers it now? In 1946 it was just what the public wanted to see – a serious drama that deal with major issues faced by returned service men… but in a touching, reassuring manner. Sergeant Al comes home to a loving wife and kids, and gets promoted… but still finds himself out of sorts. Thankfully said loving wife and kids help pull him through. Fred comes home to find his hot slut of a wife still a hot slut and with little job prospects. Homer can’t deal with the fact of his hands even though his fiancée is okay about it. 

The anti-anti-red propaganda (Fred socks an anti-semite who believes we were coerced into the war by jews, England and commies) probably wouldn’t have been able to be made a few years later. Even on the page some scenes really fly: Fred and Peggy’s romance (one of Hollywood’s most sympathetic depictions of adultery), Fred’s wife dumping him (she’s not a caricature – her arguments are perfectly reasonable i.e. she doesn’t want to be poor and dull), Fred in the airplane graveyard trying to get a job (this is a wonderful scene), Homer confronting Wilma with the difficulties of his injury. It didn’t need to go on for so long but this is still pretty good.

Movie review – “How Green Was My Valley” (1941) ***

Made with such love and care it’s impossible not to be impressed but after 30 or so minutes it start to drag: vignette after vignette of life in a Welsh mining town – choir, coal mines, grace at family diner, the brothers want to establish a union and dad isn’t keen on socialism, the rituals and politeness, chapel services, dad washing his feet, gossips in church, more singing, not one but two deaths, etc. 

 

The ending is incredibly moving however – with little Roddy McDowall working through the water to find Donald Crisp who gives him a hug just before he dies. Sob.

 

McDowall is superb, whether fighting a bully at school, or falling in love with sister in law Anna Lee (who I kept thinking was going to have a bigger part than she did) at first glance, or going down the mines. Donald Crisp is excellent too, and Maureen O’Hara very good; Patric Knowles is stiff but then again when wasn’t he? You can tell why it was so loved and I always feel guilty admitting stuff like this but I found it a little dull.

Book review – “Charlton Heston Journals 1956-76” by Charlton Heston

I never really thought much of Charlton Heston until I read this book - he was just this swaggering, noble looking guy who wasn't much of an actor and showed off his teeth through a bunch of epic films. This diary reveals an intelligent, thoughtful man, very serious about his craft, always capable of taking risks. It made me revisit his performances - sorry, nope, I still don't think he was much of an actor (I went through the same thing with Mark Wahlberg after Entourage - respect him more as a person, still don't think much of him as an actor).

But he certainly had a worthy star career: he backed Orson Welles for Touch of Evil and tried to use him on other films (including Anthony and Cleopatra, which Welles wasn't available for but really should have done instead of Heston); he backed Sam Peckinpah on Major Dundee to the point of giving up salary for him; was involved in Civil Rights and went on the March to Washington; backed newbie Tom Gries for Will Penny; pushed through The War Lover; took chances on films like Pro and The Planet of the Apes (which could have been a disaster); constantly took off time to do theatre.

His film career became unexciting in the 70s when he was bogged down in too many disaster films - although successful, they were very same-y, and when the tide ran out on the cycle, Heston's career never quite recovered. 

 

(I think part of the problem was he wouldn't read a script unless it was accompanied by a firm offer - he should have looked around a bit for other parts in films by top directors.)

Very stiff and Protestant, not a barrel of laughs, Heston didn't become a big time gun-toting right-winger until after this journal, where he's still considering the Democrat Party - personally I think his primary motivation for this was because it offered him a great role. 

 

Fascinating reading - a lot more interesting than most Heston performances.

Radio review – Lux – “Come and Get It” (1937) ***

Fun adaptation of the Howard Hawks film – I remember the first act of the film more vividly than the second and third, with it’s timber footage and fine old brawls in taverns involving Edward Arnold, Frances Farmer and Walter Brennan (the two guys re-appear with Anne Shirley standing in for Farmer). But actually on radio the second half holds up still pretty good too – I forgot the moving character of Arnold’s wife, who he married for money, and what a bitch the Farmer/Shirley daughter character became. The story deals with one of the great archetype themes – the regret that you married the wrong person. De Mille gives the Edward Arnold life story at the beginning - I had no idea he had such a tough up-bringing.

Radio review – BP#47 – “Detective Story” (1953) ***

Tough, downbeat version of the Sidney Kingsley play with Wendell Corey as the self-righteous cop who beats prisoners and is keen to get stuck into an abortionist doctor, only to find out his wife had an abortion. The fore-runner of all those New York cop shows; Kingsley apparently spent a year researching this which seems an awful long time, with so much time spent on the abortion plot, but it feels real and is still gripping. You do lose something it being on radio and not being able to see the details of the station.

Book review – “I Thought We Were Making Movies Not History” by Walter Mirisch

During the 1960s the Mirisch Corporation seemed to have the Midas touch, producing a staggering array of films that combined critical acclaim with commercial success and artistic freedom. Even their failures were always interesting. The Mirisch brothers were lucky in some regards, teaming up with Billy Wilder and Norman Jewison during the peak years of those directors – but the harder you work the better your luck and the Mirisischs worked hard. Walter got his start managing theatres, went to Harvard, joined an engineering firm (Lockheed) to develop systems, joined Monogram and worked his way up to head of production via producing the Bomba Boy series, then branching out into independent production. The relationship at UA soured after a series of flops and a change in studio management, but Mirisch then had a profitable association with Universal.

It’s an amazing career but this book is surprisingly dull. It seems as though it wasn’t ghost written and maybe that was the problem. Mirisch plots through his career with a sort of workmanlike prose that must have gone down a treat at Lockheed – “then I bought the rights to the book, then I hired the director, then I found a star”. He shows little flair for a decent anecdote or human weakness. Only one story from producing an Errol Flynn film (The Warriors)? And it was “Flynn was drunk”. Come on, Walter.

There are hardly any decent stories from the Bomba the Jungle Boy series either, or any of the other Monogram/Allied Artist films, which surely must have featured colourful characters and interesting anecdotes. Also far too much time is spent on the workings of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Who cares?

Inevitably some snipits sneak through: William Wyler had major second thoughts about Dorothy McGuire in Friendly Persuasion (he wanted Kate Hepburn) and Shirley Maclaine in The Children’s Hour. Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster were originally considered for the Steve McQueen and James Garner roles in The Great Escape. Mirisch decided to sack George Roy Hill from Hawaii and hired Arthur Hiller to replace him but then the natives and Hawaiian actors rose in revolt. The minor British war film Flight 633 with American star Cliff Robertson was popular enough to inspire a rash of British war films with American stars. Friendly Persuasion lost money but Midway was one of the most popular films of 1976.

Chapters are devoted to the troublesome productions of Moby Dick and Hawaii. It’s interesting when he talks about failures, the importance of luck, etc – but too often you get the feeling he’s being diplomatic, pulling his punches. Which makes him a gentleman but means the film is less fun to read.

It’s a real shame. Mirisch made great films, worked with terrific personalities. Maybe it just wasn’t in his nature to write a gossipy, informative tome. More’s the pity.

Movie review – “The Best Years of Our Lives” (1946) ***

At one stage this was the second biggest box office hit in Hollywood, topped only by Gone with the Wind. It was a zeitgeist film par excellance, just what the public wanted in 1946 (just like director William Wyler achieved a few years earlier with Mrs Miniver, and later on with Ben Hur). It was also the pinnacle of Sam Goldwyn’s career, and a sort of symbol of the passing of classical Hollywood – 1946 would be it’s high point, and just like the veterans from then on filmmakers were entering unchartered waters. I think it’s safe to say the film’s reputation hasn’t survived the years that well; it remains a very well made piece of entertainment, sensitive direction, strong acting, etc – but it’s impossible for it to have the same impact it did at the time. 

 The film is a definitive example of popular drama: it touches on some really serious subjects (the dissatisfaction of returning to the old life, drinking problems, reconnecting with family, living with disabilities, coming home to find missus is a tramp) – but is also reassuring (banks eventually loan to veterans without collateral, each three of the male s has a loving, understanding woman to comfort them).

Frederick March has some fine moments, such as looking at himself in front of the mirror, but his drunk scene goes on too long. I was knocked out by Dana Andrews, young, confident and good looking, as the dissatisfied returning veteran – it hinted a better career than he had (but then he was a big time boozer). Virginia Mayo is good as his wife (she made an ideal good time girl, Mayo, as she did in White Heat – like that her boyfriend is played by Steve Cochrane). Myrna Loy, Teresa Wright and Cathy O’Donnell all make what is actually a difficult part to play – loving women – fresh and moving. But it’s Harold Russell, real life amputee, who gives the film it’s real power.

Movie review - "Mrs Miniver" (1942) ***1/2

You can often tell as much about a people and period of time but what they loved to see about themselves as opposed to more realistic representations - this was an enormously popular look at a British family at war, one of the biggest hits of all time in its day. It has dated a little, but still stands up as a work of enormous skill, as do many films from director William Wyler.
There are other reasons for its success: the reassuring picture of Britain with flower shows, friendly pubs, vicars and boats (not totally a white wash - the Dame May Whitty character is a snob - but she's a good egg underneath); Greer Garson's performance in the title role, with bewitching charm and humour (people have criticised her for being overly noble but she's not here); sterling support from Walter Pigeon (he and Garson have wonderful chemistry); a clever structure which emphasises and establishes the characters before bringing in the war, and which sets up audience expectations that the eldest son will be killed... then pulls a switcheroo by having his wife die instead; the beauty of Wright and the skilled performances from two little kids; many memorable scenes: the cute she-bought-a-hat-he-bought-a-car bit to open it, the stunning night time sequence when Pigeon goes off to Dunkirk, Garson stumbling upon a Nazi flyer in her garden (no wonder women loved this - "It's just like my life, the men think we do nothing but we have kids, food, downed Nazi airmen..."), the death sigh of Teresa Wright, the bomb shelter, the flower show ending with Dame May Whitty's shocked and touched expression when she realises the villagers actually like her, and most of all the ending scene in the Church - where Wyler holds off showing how damaged it is until towards the end and we find out nice old Henry Travers has been killed and Henry Wilcoxon gives her stirring speech.
There are flaws - Helmut Dantine overacts his Nazi, as he was want to do (or, more likely, encouraged to do); the village stereotypes do make you laugh (esp the maid with her fellow working class boyfriend - just like Alice and Sam the Butcher in The Brady Bunch); and most of Richard Ney's performance as the Miniver's eldest son is awful - he's this sort of skinny prancy thing with creamed hair who looks like a trout and every time he's on screen the fun screeches to a halt (cutting to him during the final church scene lessens its effectiveness). There is some fun to be had to seeing Garson kiss Ney on the mouth and give him loving looks - the two went on to be married.
 It remains a moving and watchable film in which everything actually happened to real people, however glossily presented here, regardless of Garson's five minute Oscar acceptance speech.

Book review - "No Roses for Mrs Miniver: The Life of Greer Garson" byMichael Troyan

Greer Garson was an actor in the right place at the right time -specifically MGM during WW2, where she epitomised class and glamour so loved by Louis B Mayer. She had the type of British-ness that the Yanks were just in the mood for - though to be fair the Poms lapped it up as well (cultures don't mind inaccurate portrayals as long as they're positive). Few stars had their reign so defined by war - she had hits from 1939 to 1945, but thereafter it was heavy going. You might say that "well, the war was over and people didn't dig lady like stars anymore" - but then what about Deborah Kerr? Greer just picked some bad films - and also she got old; she didn't get started as an actor til she was 27, and not famous til her mid 30s - it gives hope to careers of female actors who don't bloom til late.

I didn't realise how big she was on the London stage - once she became popular, she was really popular.The kicker is, she was only ever in the one popular play, Coward's Mademoiselle - the rest were flops, but Greer got great reviews in them (she was one of those stars-who-are-just-waiting-for-a-hit-film, like Mel Gibson was before Lethal Weapon and Colin Farrell is technically still today). This is an excellent biography, well researched, well written, affectionate towards its subject, who was probably riper for more satire (she gave the legendary incredibly long Oscar acceptance speech).

Greer Garson was a very haughty thing at times - when signed to MGM various producers kept asking for her to be in films, e.g. Day at the Races but she kept turning them down. Indeed she was inactive for over a year - she was going to sign in Dramatic School but got sick, before getting the small role in Goodbye Mr Chips which ended up launching her to stardom. (Living proof that there are no small parts, etc)

She seemed to bewitch people, on and off camera - audiences (in war time at least), the MGM front office (who she stood up to - the studios were meant to be bullies but like a lot of bullies they withered when you stood up to them, especially if you smelled of class and were devoted to your mother), the poor lawyer who became her first husband (after the honeymoon she realised she'd made a mistake and basically left him while he went off to India - he kept asking to have her back but no dice), Laurence Olivier (who directed her in a play and with whom she had an affair).

While the writer clearly has great affection for Greer, he has done his work and allows the facts to speak for themselves, and they show that she could be a right royal pain in the neck. She complained about MGM's treatment of her from the get go, even when she was queen of the lot, whining about not being able to do comedy, clashing with directors (even William Wyler on Mrs Miniver - which she didn't want to do at first because it meant she'd play a mother), rewriting scripts, and continually having poor choice of material. (She also dumped her first husband when they got back from the honeymoon).

MGM really tried with Garson - in her hey day they gave her top budgets and support talent, even in her decline they kept giving her chances - all her 1945 onwards films must have sounded great on paper: a romantic comedy with Clark Gable, a my-husband-isn't-dead-like-I-thought-he-was melodrama with George Cukor and Robert Mitchum, a broad family comedy, an adaptation of The Forysthe Saga, a sequel to Mrs Miniver, a remake of trusted material with hot new star Michael Wilding, a melo re-teaming with Walter Pigeon along the lines of Blossoms in the Dust.

But just as she could't put a foot wrong during the war she was cursed with bad luck after it - Adventure became a hit on the strength of its stars but no one liked it and seems to have been one of those hits that actually hurt you (eg the song Accidentally Kelly St by Frente), Desire Me was a disaster which George Cukor ended up leaving and on which Greer almost died, The Forsythe Saga did pretty well but failed to recoup its large budget (and wasn't quite there as a film, suffering from miscasting of Robert Young and Pigeon), no one wanted to see Mrs Miniver in peacetime, the Mike Wilding film proved too rusty (he had lousy luck, too, Wilding - after hitting it big in Herbert Wilcox movies he worked for all the right people - MGM, Hitchcock, Korda - but kept striking out), and the last one with Pigeon was too Dore Schary (i.e. done on the cheap and realistically) when it needed a little of the old MGM gloss. Julia Misbehaves was, surprisingly, her big hit from this time.

Of course, Deborah Kerr was there to snatch her roles, too - but at the end of the day Garson really has no one to blame but herself, she simply had no taste and was reliant on people to pick movies for her. She remained in demand for work right up until her death, though, even if just for theatre and guest shows and television, and to her credit never sold out and did something against her principles, ef a horror film. Marrying an oil millionaire gives you FU money I suppose.

There are lots of interesting tidbits - MGM wanted to make a film in the late 40s of The Fortunes of Richard Mahoney with Garson, the studio considered Stewart Granger for Marc Anthony in Julius Caesar (laugh but I think he could do it), Schary wanted to make an epic called Magna Carta with Granger, Garson, Simmons and Wilding, the film she made after leaving MGM, Strange Lady in Town was a hit but seems to have done little for her career, she badly wanted to made Interrupted Melody (in which I think she would have been ideal and which would have revived her career) but MGM dithered and she left the studio, whereupon they cast Eleanor Parker. (NB I don't think this was due to hostility for Garson - Dore Schary went on to cast her in Sunrise at Capobello - just a desire to lock down a decent male co star and they couldn't do it in time)

This book would have to be the definitive account of Garson's life and career - it is hard to imagine a more loving and detailed portrait, unless, say, you got really specialised, like an in-depth look at the making of one of her films, or a more detailed account of her partnership with Pigeon (it is a little hazy on the fate of her first two husbands after she left them).

That's not to say it's without flaws, the most notable being the excessive amount of time devoted to her post-MGM career - this starts around page 272 and goes til around page 370, and gets a little wearying at times, especially compared to the first two sections. Greer moved to Texas, home of her oil millionaire third husband Buddy Fogelson, who was smart enough to realise that if you marry an actress you let them act every now and then so she never really retired but was semi-retired from that point on. This seems to have been a genuinely happy marriage with the added benefit of meaning Garson spent the last section of her life totally loaded with cash (she had no kids). So we have a hundred pages of Garson being rich and happy, doing the odd acting job (eg The Singing Nun, bits of theatre and television, a Love Boat), accepting lots of awards, attending dinners and giving speeches. For all her repeated refrain that "oh they won't let me play anything other than the grand dame" she was often the grand dame in real life, poking fun at her image - but never too much fun. Not the "extraordinary lady" that Troyan argues she is, but a genuine, true aristocrat.