At the conclusion of the war in Europe, Clem and Judy return home from service and Toby returns from a foster family in the United States.
Tom Foley, a captain in the Royal Engineers, loves corporal driver Judy, but she is smitten with commander Steve Brunswick, who is married but separated and twice her age. Kay Miniver has also become friendly with American colonel Spike.
Clem, restless and dissatisfied, is offered a design contract in Brazil. However, he does not know that Kay has developed a serious heart condition and has no longer than one year to live. Despite her condition, she persuades Brunswick to return to his wife, leaving Judy free to marry Tom.
The wedding proceeds. Clem stays in London and brings Tom into his architectural practice. Soon after, he learns of his wife's illness. Satisfied that her family are safe and happy, Kay dies.
Cinematographer Joseph Ruttenberg was almost dismissed from the project because of British film-union regulations, but he was kept after Greer Garson threatened to quit the production.[7]
No mention is made of the eldest Miniver son Vincent, who was portrayed by Richard Ney in the earlier film. Garson and Ney had been married and divorced during the time between the two films.
[I]t takes Mrs. Miniver such an all-powerful long time to die that one suspects that this extension of the picture was the scriptwriter's primary aim. Certainly the prefatory problems are of such minor consequence—are so petty when compared to the problems and the theme of survival in the first film—that they look to be nothing more than fillers to make a story before the long death march. The poignancy of Mrs. Miniver's passing with the tall leaves is the motif of this film. This is too thin, and Miss Garson plays with such lofty humbleness that whatever emotion is in the story is drenched in great waves of obvious goo. So soft and beatific is her manner, so hushed and remote is her tone, that she seems, even before her passing, to have assumed her imminent state in another world.[2]
Critic Edwin Schallert of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "Whether 'The Miniver Story' is deemed an important contribution to the screen, there is little question that it merits an accolade for the taste and sensitiveness that dignify it. The narration particularly at the end sustains this mode and is well recited by Pidgeon. Undoubtedly Its sentimentalism will be derided in some quarters. Simultaneously, many people will be moved by its sadness, which is deep-rooted."[3]
According to MGM records, the film earned $990,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $1.23 million in other countries. However, this was not enough to recover the large budget of more than $3 million, and the film recorded a loss of $2.3 million, making it MGM's most costly flop of 1950.[6][8][9]
1 2 3 The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
↑ Steinhart, Daniel. (2019). Runaway Hollywood: Internationalizing Postwar Production and Location Shooting. University of California Press. p. 100. ISBN978-0-52-029864-4.
↑ Scott Eyman, Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer, Robson, 2005 p 399
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