your secret

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title your secret
Original title The Miniver Story
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1950
length 104 minutes
Rod
Director HC Potter
script George Froeschel ,
Ronald Millar
production Sidney Franklin
music Herbert Stothart ,
Miklós Rózsa
camera Joseph Ruttenberg
cut Frank Clarke ,
Harold F. Kress
occupation

Your secret (Original title: The Miniver Story ) is an American film drama with Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon from 1950, which was a sequel to Mrs. Miniver (1942).

action

While housewife Kay Miniver was doing her shopping in London on May 8, 1945 , she heard the radio announcing the end of the Second World War . When she returns home to the suburbs of London, she makes the first preparations for the upcoming family reunion. Their young son Toby had been sent to the United States to escape enemy bombs. Daughter Judy is stationed in Cairo as a nurse and husband Clem is an officer in the British Army .

The following evening, the residents of the village gather to celebrate Victory Day and to bid farewell to the Allied troops. The American commander Spike Romway takes the opportunity and confesses to Kay that he has fallen in love with her. Though flattered, she reminds him that the war has brought many hearts together and asks him to forget about her and return to his wife. Within a week, the Minivers are reunited and they are trying to get back to normal family life. Clem is back in his architecture office and everyone is amused by Toby's American accent and his obsession with baseball . Judy Miniver, meanwhile, has fallen in love with General Steve Brunswick, who is many years older than her and who recently separated from his wife. Kay and Clem are little pleased with this connection. What her family does not know is that Kay has since been diagnosed with a serious illness. After another attack of weakness, she visits Dr. Kanesley to see how much time you have left. The doctor tells her that due to the rigors of the war, her illness has progressed rapidly and that she probably only has six to twelve months to live. Although her Dr. Kanesley advises her relatives to be informed about her health immediately if Kay repeatedly fails to tell her family the truth.

Meanwhile, Clem has difficulties to fit into normal working life again, which is why he wants to take a job in Brazil and Kay suggests moving the family to South America . Kay is convinced that the prospect of bombed-out London from Clem's office is the real reason he wants to leave England . After Kay and secretary Jeanette have set up a new office for him, both his depression and his desire to emigrate to Brazil evaporate.

While Kay and Clem continue to worry about Judy's love for General Brunswick, Judy hopes to marry the general after his divorce. When Kay goes to London to get to know her potential son-in-law better, she is quickly impressed by his intelligence, but also realizes that his temper outbursts do not suit her daughter and that he is still in love with his wife. Judy later returns home with tears in her eyes. She blames her mother for Brunswick ending his relationship with her. Kay tries to comfort Judy by reading her a letter from Commander Spike Romway. According to the letter, Kay made him rediscover his love for his wife. When Judy realizes that Kay is trying to explain that General Brunswick feels the same, she hugs her mother and accompanies her parents to a village festival that same evening. There she meets her long-time admirer Tom Foley, who finally invites her to dance. When Clem asks his wife for a dance, Kay decides to tell him about her illness. Clem is devastated by the news and unable to imagine life without Kay. Kay eventually dies the following winter, shortly after Judy and Tom are married. Four years later, Judy and Tom live with Clem and Toby in the family home, where Kay is still ubiquitous.

background

Her secret , the sequel to the successful war drama Mrs. Miniver , was filmed on original locations in England , unlike its predecessor . Walter Pidgeon and Greer Garson, who received an Oscar in 1943 for her role as Mrs. Miniver , took over the leading roles again. Even Henry Wilcoxon and Reginald Owen repeated their roles. Richard Ney, on the other hand, who played the eldest son of the Minivers in the first part, was missing in the sequel. MGM was too hot to let Ney slip into the role of Garson's son again on screen after Garson was married to Ney, twelve years his junior, from 1943 to 1947. His character was therefore completely deleted from the plot of the second part. Alfred Junge appeared as the film architect . Walter Plunkett designed Garson's costumes . Miklós Rózsa adapted Herbert Stothart's film music from Mrs. Miniver . Rózsa's adaptation was recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra .

The writer Jan Struther, who provided the literary source for Mrs. Miniver with her book Mrs. Miniver Experiences the prewar period , was so annoyed by the script for the sequel that she refused to see the film and successfully sued MGM for it, because the studio let the character she created die without her consent. The critics and viewers were also dissatisfied with the result. MGM suffered a heavy loss of $ 2,311,000 at the US box office as a result.

Reviews

"Staged carefully and with moral standards, the second Miniver film, a gloomy and sluggish family drama, does not achieve the artistic quality of its predecessor," said the lexicon of international films . Bosley Crowther of the New York Times wrote that Greer Garson played her role "with such sublime humility" that "every emotion in the plot is soaked with sentimentality." Walter Pidgeon, in turn, looks and plays “like a monument”.

Craig Butler of the All Movie Guide described the film as a "cumbersome soap opera". In comparison, Mrs. Miniver was "a drama with a heart". The script seems “banal” in terms of “character development and dialogues”. H. C. Potter's direction was "expedient", but an "outstanding director" was needed. “Under the circumstances” the cast made “the best possible” of their task. Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon are "talented enough" to make up for the deficits. Thanks to them, the film is “worth seeing”, even if “not worth remembering”. At the time, Variety primarily praised Greer Garson, who, as Kay Miniver, although marked by illness, looked "as lovely as ever".

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Troyan: A Rose for Mrs. Miniver. The Life of Greer Garson . The University Press of Kentucky, 1999, p. 238.
  2. ↑ Your secret. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2019 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. ↑ “Miss Garson plays with such lofty humbleness that whatever emotion is in the story is drenched in great waves of obvious goo. [...] As for Mr. Pidgeon, he looks and acts like a monument. " Bosley Crowther : The Miniver Story (1950) . In: The New York Times , October 27, 1950.
  4. ^ " Story is heavy-handed soap opera, whereas Mrs. was a drama with heart. [...] the screenplay is banal in character development and dialogue. […] HC Potter's direction is serviceable, but what is needed is outstanding helmeting. Under the circumstances, the cast does as good a job as possible. Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon […] are so talented that they overcome these obstacles, making story watchable - but not memorable. " Craig Butler, cf. omovie.com
  5. ↑ "Chief laurels go to Greer Garson who, even with the unmistakable signs of illness and mental stress, [...] that she looks as lovely as ever." See Review: 'The Miniver Story' . In: Variety , 1950.