It’s unclear when “prestige season” became a Hollywood tradition, but it doesn’t extend to 1942, when all but one of the 10 films nominated for Best Picture were released from March to August. Premiering in New York on June 4, Mrs. Miniver offers a series of vignettes following an upper-middle-class English family through World War II. With its climactic scene featuring a lengthy sermon about how war isn’t just fought by soldiers but by the whole nation, Mrs. Miniver was, in the words of director and self-described “warmonger” William Wyler, “obviously a propaganda film.” FDR and Winston Churchill praised its rousing spirit (“more powerful to the war effort than the combined work of six military divisions,” said Winnie), and moviegoers made it one of the highest-grossing films of the year. The National Board Of Review counted it among 1942’s 10 best movies, and later it received 12 Oscar nominations, the most of the year, including a record-setting five for acting. Wartime passions ultimately won Mrs. Miniver six Oscars, including Best Picture, director, actress (Greer Garson, who still holds the Oscar record for longest acceptance speech, at seven minutes), supporting actress, and screenplay.
