--- title: "Mrs. Miniver: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/mrs-miniver/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/mrs-miniver" critics_score: 74 critics_reviews: 8 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Mrs. Miniver (1942): what the critics said Critics' score 74 from 8 reviews: 6 positive, 1 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics take to Mrs. Miniver warmly, and the praise clusters around two things: William Wyler’s direction and Greer Garson in the title role. The wartime reviews are the warmest, admiring the restraint with which the film shows an ordinary English family living through the bombing, and more than one singles out Walter Pidgeon as the husband. Later critics are cooler but still mostly kind, crediting the air-raid sequence and the picture of Home Front life, and noting that the film avoids the worst of flag-waving. The reservations are about sentiment and length. Two reviews find it long, and Time Out calls it a well-dressed soap opera in which everyone is frightfully nice. The spread is wide: the lone dissenter, Collider, finds it dated, earnest and dull, and argues the story reflects wartime necessity rather than anything lasting. The further a review sits from 1942, the less it likes the film. ## Los Angeles Times Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). The picture is a distinguished, sincere and meritorious accomplishment, the most meritorious thus far inspired by the present conflict, with high worth performances and nuanced direction by William Wyler. It merits widespread recognition for its humanized account of an English family under the stress of war. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/story/2022-09-07/from-the-archives-miniver-acclaimed-as-war-revelation) ## Sight and Sound Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 1942. This is a most moving film, directed with great insight and sympathy by William Wyler. The acting of Greer Garson as Mrs. Miniver is superb and that of Walter Pidgeon as her husband quite impeccable; the film is a gracious tribute to Britain's real life in time of stress and agony. [Read the review](http://old.bfi.org.uk/features/ultimatefilm/chart/details.php?ranking=50) ## The New York Times — Bosley Crowther Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 14 June 1942. The film is a stunning piece of cinema artistry that powerfully shows the impact of total war on ordinary civilians with natural, literate understatement and restraint. William Wyler directs with warmth and human dignity, highlighted by Greer Garson's compassionate performance. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1942/06/14/archives/mrs-miniver-expresses-the-inspiring-strength-and-dignity-of.html) ## Empire — David Parkinson Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 13 June 2006. The critic calls it a winning WWII story of British pluck that manages to side-step the propaganda trap. They single out the credible depiction of the air raid and everyday Home Front life, along with a gentle dig at the British class system. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/mrs-miniver-review/) ## Evening Standard Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 11 April 2012. The piece describes the 1942 wartime drama as soulful, noting it won six Oscars including Best Picture and remains a treat despite its length. It singles out Greer Garson's performance as the wife and mother tending her family through WWII trauma. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/glory-of-oscars-past-6944342.html) ## Variety — Variety Staff Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 12 May 1942. The film superbly catches the warmth and feeling of the source material in a poignant story of middle-class family life in wartime England, with an able cast and fine direction by William Wyler. It will draw good grosses, though its length is a minor defect. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1998/film/reviews/mrs-miniver-4-1200453063/) ## Time Out — TM Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 22 January 2016. Hollywood's multi-Oscared tribute to the home front in wartime Britain, with Mrs Miniver disarming a German parachutist and her husband heading off to help with the Dunkirk evacuation. It is classic soap opera in which good old British understatement has a field day, everybody is frightfully nice, and sentimentality is wrapped up in yards of tasteful gloss. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/mrs-miniver) ## Collider — Rob Vaux Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 4 February 2013. The critic finds the film embarrassing in its anachronisms and overly earnest, with a dull production that fails to ring true despite its wartime propaganda intent. It praises the cleaned-up Blu-ray image but notes the story's broad strokes reflect immediate necessity more than lasting depth. [Read the review](https://collider.com/driving-miss-daisy-blu-ray-review-grand-hotel-blu-ray-review/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/mrs-miniver.md