The winner of the Academy Award Best Picture trophy for 1942, Mrs. Miniver starts in the summer of 1939 and follows the experiences of a British middle-class family as the nation girds for war. We meet Mrs. Kay Miniver (Greer Garson) and her extended brood. At home, this clan includes architect husband Clem (Walter Pidgeon), young daughter Judy (Clare Sandars) and toddler son Toby (Christopher Severn). Their older son Vin (Richard Ney) soon returns from Oxford as well.

At the start, we see conflicts between various social classes. For one, the Minivers spend a little beyond their means, which some interpret as an attempt to promote themselves as being a higher status. In addition, local railway clerk Mr. Ballard (Henry Travers) grows a rose that he names the “Mrs. Miniver” after the lovely Kay. He plans to enter it in the Beldon Challenge Cup, a contest run by – and always won by – aristocratic Lady Beldon (Dame May Whitty), which presents a serious challenge to the status quo.

Idealistic young Vin also spouts off against the British class system, a discussion that brings him into some conflict with Lady Beldon’s granddaughter Carol (Teresa Wright). Unsurprisingly, the attractive young pair start to manifest romantic interest in each other, though her summer departure to Scotland disrupts that effort.

The film jumps to September 1939, when Carol returns from Scotland and also the country enters the war. We watch their re-acquaintance as well as the impact the conflict has on the community. The Minivers’ maid Gladys (Brenda Forbes) becomes distraught when her boyfriend Horace (Rhys Williams) gets called into action.

From there we leap to May 1940 and we watch the continued effect of the conflict on the town. Vin joined the RAF and gets called into service as a pilot after a quick training; manpower shortages require his accelerated promotion and he gets a rank as Pilot Officer. Vin and Carol get engaged, but they don’t enjoy much time to celebrate, as they call him into action. Clem also goes to Dunkirk as part of a river patrol; he acts to help retrieve stranded members of the British Expeditionary Force. The rest of the movie stays around this time, as the family goes through bombings and other calamities.

Really, despite that long synopsis, Miniver presents almost no plot. Instead, it prefers to focus on a depiction of daily life among the civilians of England during the early wartime. In theory, that should make for a very good movie. In reality, Miniver exists as little more than bland propaganda.

One major problem stems from the exceedingly dull characters. It seems odd that they named the flick Mrs. Miniver, for Kay really does little throughout the story. Vin and Carol play the most prominent roles and show the most personality, though even they stay pretty boring.

Unfortunately, the movie’s titular icon comes across as little more than a cipher. Kay seems more like a symbol than an actual character. The role asks Garson to look noble and vaguely stressed at times but little more than that. She fills those goals acceptably well, but I can’t figure out how she won an Oscar for this one-dimensional and unchallenging part.

Miniver exists solely as a boost for Allied morale during World War II. It shows the need for strength in the face of adversity and comes across as a piece of propaganda. Within the timeframe in which it was created, that seems appropriate. Unfortunately, 70 years down the road, this doesn’t make it a good film.

A lot of the problem comes from the simple dullness of the story, though it enjoys occasional interesting moments. For example, when the long-delayed Beldon Cup competition occurs, we find some interesting twists. Travers presents one of the film’s few compelling bits when he displays Mr. Ballard’s reaction to this event. The death of a character toward the end also presents some moderately moving moments.

Unfortunately, the movie uses the latter as nothing more than an excuse for more propaganda, as the town’s vicar spouts about the need to carry on and turns a sad moment into a pep rally. Again, this makes perfect sense in the context of the era. No one wanted a movie in which people die and the survivors act depressed; folks needed to see that they could experience sadness and still endure.

But that doesn’t make this effective or entertaining many years later, and Mrs. Miniver hasn’t aged well. Nothing about the movie seems especially poor, but the project is such a piece of its time that it lacks much value in a modern age. It doesn’t help that the film moves at a monotonous pace and features dull, one-dimensional characters. Chalk up Mrs. Miniver as one of the less interesting Oscar winners.

Mrs. Miniver appears in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Expect a borderline glorious transfer.

Sharpness remained tight and distinctive for the vast majority of the movie. Only the most minor instances of softness arose in a few wide shots, but the flick usually looked tight and distinctive. Jagged edges and moiré effects seemed absent, and edge enhancement remained absent.

Contrast looked terrifically vibrant and smooth. Black levels came across as deep and tight, and low-light shots were natural and detailed. Print flaws caused mild concerns. The movie showed grain that fit the film’s natural structure, so I witnessed no issues with noise reduction, and the image lacked source flaws; if any specks, marks or other defects arose, they escaped my detection. Overall, this was an outstanding presentation.

In addition, the monaural audio of Mrs. Miniver seemed solid for the era. Dialogue occasionally betrayed a little brittleness but usually seemed nicely clear and fairly natural; the speech lacked some of the depth we'd hear in more modern recordings, but it appeared quite rich given its age. Music sounded a bit thin and tinny, but these faults seem typical for the day, and the music remained reasonably concise.

Effects generally came across as acceptably lively and distinctive. Not much bass occurred outside of war-related sequences; those demonstrated moderately strong low-end in regard to bombs and planes. No issues connected to background noise or other source flaws marred the presentation. Overall, the audio represented the original recording quite well.

How does the Blu-ray compare to the original 2004 DVD? Audio was pretty similar between both, as the age of the material restricted its range; the BD might’ve been a little more dynamic, but don’t expect much.

On the other hand, the BD delivered a substantially improved visual experience. While I liked the image of the DVD, the BD seemed tighter, cleaner and more film-like. This was a top-notch catalog transfer.

A minor mix of extras rounds out Mrs. Miniver. First we find Academy Awards footage of actress Greer Garson. In this 58-second snippet, we hear her acceptance speech. It’s pretty insubstantial, but it’s still fun to see this sort of piece.

Next we locate two World War II-era Shorts. We get Mr. Blabbermouth (19 minutes, 22 seconds) and For the Common Defense (21:36). Not exactly subtle, the former tries to dispel rumors spread by ignorant know-it-alls, and it actually depicts an Asian actor who reads a book called How to Kill Friends and Annihilate People. The latter deals with potential traitors and doesn’t offer a light-handed exploration either. Both are clearly propaganda, but they offer entertaining bits of history and are good additions to this set.

In addition to the movie’s theatrical trailer, the Blu-ray adds a vintage cartoon called Blitz Wolf. From 1942, it goes for 10 minutes, 39 seconds – including a 45-second disclaimer at the start to warn of ethnic stereotypes – and shows a WWII-oriented take on the Three Little Pigs. Another piece of propaganda, it’s still fairly enjoyable despite its over the top message. (By the way, the vast majority of the short’s negativity aims at Hitler and the Nazis; as far as I noticed, the only objectionable bit came from a quick shot of the word “Japs” scrawled on a wall – unless studios suddenly are sensitive to the negative depiction of Nazis.)

Mrs. Miniver feels less like a feature film and more like a public service announcement. A bland piece of propaganda, the movie enjoys an intriguing concept but seems dull and monotonous in execution. The Blu-ray presents excellent picture and above average audio but provides only minor bonus materials. While I think the movie bores, the Blu-ray delivers an exceptional presentation of it.

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