Greer Garson

The growing ambition of Julius Caesar is a source of major concern to his close friend Brutus. Cassius persuades him to participate in his plot to assassinate Caesar but they have both sorely underestimated Mark Antony. Brutus, Cassius, and other high-ranking Romans murder Caesar, because they believe his ambition will lead to tyranny. The people of Rome are on their side until Antony, Caesar's right-hand man, makes a moving speech. The conspirators are driven from Rome, and two armies are formed: one side following the conspirators; the other, Antony. Antony has the superior force, and surrounds Brutus and Cassius, but they kill themselves to avoid capture. —John Oswalt <jao@jao.com> Brutus is convinced by a scheming band of Roman senators, led by Caius Cassius, that his dear friend Julius Caesar intends to dissolve the republic and install himself as monarch, and he joins a conspiracy to assassinate him. Brutus stirringly defends his actions, but when Mark Antony responds with a speech that plays upon the crowd's love for their fallen leader, a battle between the two factions is assured. —Jwelch5742

September 1939. Mrs. Kay Miniver (Greer Garson) and her family live a comfortable life at a house called 'Starlings' in Belham, a fictional village outside London, England. The house has a large garden, with a private landing stage on the River Thames at which is moored a motorboat belonging to her devoted husband Clem (Walter Pidgeon), a successful architect. They have three children: the youngsters Toby and Judy (Christopher Severn and Clare Sandars) and an older son Vin (Richard Ney) at university. They have live-in staff: Gladys the housemaid (Brenda Forbes) and Ada the cook (Marie De Becker). As World War II looms, Vin comes down from university and meets Carol Beldon (Teresa Wright), granddaughter of Lady Beldon (Dame May Whitty) from nearby Beldon Hall. Despite initial disagreements (mainly contrasting Vin's idealistic attitude to class differences with Carol's practical altruism) they fall in love. Vin proposes to Carol in front of his family at home after his younger brother prods him to give a less romantic but more honest proposal. Several months later, as the war comes closer to home with the bombing of Great Brittan, Vin feels he must "do his bit" and enlists in the Royal Air Force, qualifying as a fighter pilot. He is posted to a base near to his parents' home and is able to signal his safe return from operations to his parents by cutting his engines briefly as he flies over the house. Together with other boat owners, Clem volunteers to take his motorboat to assist in the May-June 1940 Dunkirk evacuation. Early one morning, Kay unable to sleep as Clem is still away, wanders down to the landing stage. She is startled to discover a wounded German pilot (Helmut Dantine) hiding in her garden and he holds her at gunpoint. Demanding food and a coat, the pilot maniacally asserts that the Third Reich will mercilessly overcome its enemies. She feeds him, calmly disarms him and then calls the police. Soon after, Clem returns home, exhausted, from Dunkirk. Lady Beldon visits Kay to try and convince her to talk Vin out of marrying Carol on account of her granddaughter's comparative youth. Lady Beldon is unsuccessful and admits defeat when Kay reminds her that she, too, was young when she married her late husband. Lady Beldon concedes defeat and realises that she would be foolish to try and stop the marriage. Vin and Carol are married; Carol has now also become Mrs Miniver, and they return from their honeymoon in Scotland. A key theme is that she knows he is likely to be killed in action, but the short love will fill her life. Later, Kay and her family take refuge in their Anderson shelter in the garden during an air raid, and attempt to keep their minds off the frightening bombing by reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which Clem refers to as a "lovely story" as they barely survive a bomb destroys parts of the house. They take the damage with nonchalance. At the annual village flower show, Lady Beldon silently disregards the judges' decision that her rose is the winner, instead announcing the entry of the local stationmaster, Mr. Ballard (Henry Travers), named the "Mrs. Miniver" rose, as the winner, with her own rose taking second prize. As air raid sirens sound and the villagers take refuge in the cellars of Beldon Hall, Kay and Carol drive Vin to join his squadron. On their journey home they witness fighter planes in a 'dogfight'. For safety, Kay stops the car and they see the German plane crash. Kay realises Carol has been wounded by shots from the plane and takes her back to 'Starlings'. She dies a few minutes after they reach home. Kay is devastated. When Vin returns from battle, he already knows the terrible news. Unexpectedly he is the survivor, and she the one who gives her life for England. The villagers assemble at the badly damaged church where their vicar (Henry Wilcoxon) affirms their determination in a powerful sermon: "We in this quiet corner of England have suffered the loss of friends very dear to us, some close to this church. George West, choirboy. James Ballard, stationmaster and bellringer, and the proud winner only an hour before his death of the Beldon Cup for his beautiful Miniver Rose. And our hearts go out in sympathy to the two families who share the cruel loss of a young girl who was married at this altar only two weeks ago. The homes of many of us have been destroyed, and the lives of young and old have been taken. There's scarcely a household that hasn't been struck to the heart. And why? Surely you must have asked yourselves this question? Why in all conscience should these be the ones to suffer? Children, old people, a young girl at the height of her loveliness? Why these? Are these our soldiers? Are these our fighters? Why should they be sacrificed? I shall tell you why. Because this is not only a war of soldiers in uniform. It is the war of the people, of all the people. And it must be fought not only on the battlefield but in the cities and in the villages, in the factories and on the farms, in the home and in the heart of every man, woman and child who loves freedom. Well, we have buried our dead, but we shall not forget them. Instead they will inspire us with an unbreakable determination to free ourselves, and those who come after us, from the tyranny and terror that threaten to strike us down. This is the People's War. It is our war. We are the fighters. Fight it then. Fight it with all that is in us. And may God defend the right." A solitary Lady Beldon stands in her family's church pew. Vin moves to stand alongside her, united in shared grief, as the members of congregation rise and stoically sing "Onward, Christian Soldiers", while through a gaping hole in the bombed church roof can be seen flight after flight of RAF fighters in the V-for-Victory formation heading out to face the enemy.

In 1870, Mr. Charles Chipping (Robert Donat), an unsophisticated, very shy young man, starts a teaching career at Brookfield, an English boys school created in 1492. Chipping is a kindhearted man who takes pity on a homesick young boy he meets on his and the boy's first train ride to Brookfield. But his shyness, the new boy's sobbing response to his efforts cause the other boys in the compartment to think the new teacher has tormented the new boy. This sets the stage for the chaos that ensues in his first classroom meeting as a Brookfield teacher. Because the school's headmaster threatens Mr. Chippings with dismissal at his failure to control the boys, the new teacher goes too far in his discipline to the point that later in the year the school loses its traditional cricket rival match because he keeps his class, and the team's star, for extra work when the match is on. Mr. Chipping is now disliked by the boys and looked upon condescendingly by his fellow instructors. This hurts him because of his deep affection for teaching and the boys he works with. But his shyness keeps him from making changes in his life for many years even after he is greeted warmly by the grown man who was that frightened new boy on his first train ride to Brookfield. A change occurs when the headmaster passes over him (despite his seniority) for a post as the head of one of the "houses", the dormitories the boys live in, when the current head retires at the end of the year. Because of these two events Mr. Chipping allows his one friend, Max Staefel (Paul Henreid), a German master, to convince him to take a walking tour of Austria together. The terminally shy teacher skips his usual English beach summer "holiday" to climb some Alps. During a dense fog, Chipping encounters Katherine Ellis (Greer Garson), a modern young Englishwoman who is enchanted by his kindness and old-fashioned manners. Although Chipping falls in love with Kathy, he thinks that their different personalities and ages would make any relationship impossible. He forgoes the celebration at the local inn when he is seen as her rescuer, again showing his shyness, and she leaves the inn uncertain of his true feelings. When they meet again in Vienna, their love deepens, especially when he gets up the courage to ask her to dance a waltz during their last night, and they dance the night away. Just as Kathy is boarding the train to England with her friend Flora, she kisses him goodbye full on the lips. Startled, he runs after the departing train yelling out to Kathy, "Do you...?" and she responds, "Yes, I do..." and he ends by saying, "You will just have to marry me now, you know!" She agrees but more cannot be said between them as the train pulls away. Fearful that despite their new engagement he may never find Kathy again, Mr. Chipping is reassured by his friend, Max, who with Kathy's friend Flora have already picked out the wedding church. At the beginning of the new term at Brookfield, the students and staff read the newspaper's report of Chipping's marriage and believe the shy schoolmaster has found a similarly dour partner to share his life with. Then Chipping arrives with his wife in his new suit and are shocked to see how attractive and charming Kathy is. With her gentle guidance, "Chips," as she calls him, allows his kind nature to emerge and thereby gains the respect and affection of students and faculty. Although Kathy dies in childbirth, Chips's enduring love for her helps him to maintain his blossomed personality and advance his career. Years later, when an elderly Chips is given notice of his termination by a new headmaster who wants to "modernize" the school, the boys, along with their parents, many of whom as students had also grown to love Chips, demand that the headmaster ask Chips to stay on. Several years later, when Chips does retire, he maintains a cottage near the school and continues his closeness with the boys, entertaining them after school and listening to their troubles. When World War I begins and many of the masters enlist in the army, Chips is asked to return to the school and serve as its headmaster, the position for which he and Kathy had wished years before. After the war, Chips returns to retirement, but still stays in close contact with the boys. He dies dreaming of all his past students not long after young Peter Colley III, the youngest of a family of boys whom Chips had taught through the years, waves to him and says "Goodbye, Mr. Chips." [With much help from Turner Movie Classics website.]