The Miniver Story (1950)

Set in 1945 as the war in Europe ends, a British housewife (Greer Garson) is diagnosed with a terminal illness. But she keeps this news to herself as her husband (Walter Pidgeon) returns from the war, her daughter (Cathy O'Donnell) returns from Egypt and her son (James Fox in his film debut) returns from America. Directed by H.C. Potter (MR. BLANDINGS BUILDS HIS DREAM HOUSE). By 1950, Greer Garson's film career as MGM's great lady star was fading (MGM importing Deborah Kerr from England didn't help). So someone probably thought revisiting her greatest triumph MRS. MINIVER (1942) for which she won an Oscar was a good idea. It wasn't. Though often dismissed as another WWII propaganda film, I quite like MRS. MINIVER and don't think Garson's Oscar was altogether undeserved. But the 1942 film had William Wyler at the helm and did an excellent job of showing the duress under which the British people lived during WWII. Unlike the original movie, this sequel has Garson at her worst as she goes into her noble great lady act suffering in silence while she attempts to get her family's life in order before she kicks the bucket. The film benefits from being shot in England (the original was shot in Hollywood). The public stayed away and the film flopped. With John Hodiak, Leo Genn, Peter Finch and Henry Wilcoxon.