Random Harvest **** (1942, Ronald Colman, Greer Garson, Susan Peters, Philip Dorn, Reginald Owen, Henry Travers, Rhys Williams, Margaret Wycherly) – Classic Movie Review 3127

That most regal of stars Greer Garson brings her warm and gracious patrician presence to director Mervyn LeRoy’s much-loved 1942 MGM version of the famous story by James Hilton, author of Lost Horizon. It was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture, though admittedly it didn’t win a single one.

Garson plays Paula, a vaudeville singer who saves a First World War amnesiac called Charles Rainier(Ronald Colman) from life in a mental home. They marry and settle down into a happy life until a collision with a cab makes him forget that they are married. Blocked of all memory of his existence since the war, he recalls a former life of wealth and privilege. He goes back to his posh family, and she becomes his secretary.

It could be judged a daft and contrived plot, maybe, but the movie is fondly remembered and was immensely popular with wartime audiences thanks to the bright performances, huge helpings of sentimentality, a top-notch MGM studio production (art direction by Cedric Gibbons) and the skilful direction of Mervyn LeRoy.

Garson and Colman are ideal together here,  perfectly matched and giving exquisitely judged, stiff-lipped performances. Indeed all the actors involved go for it with relish, and as though they believe every word.

Random Harvest can still be a hugely entertaining, heart-rending pleasure for all those who relish a luxurious nostalgic-romantic wallow.

Also in the cast are Susan Peters (Kitty), Philip Dorn (Dr Jonathan Benet), Reginald Owen (‘Biffer’), Henry Travers (Dr Sims), Margaret Wycherly, Bramwell Fletcher, Rhys Williams, Arthur Margetson, Jill Esmond, Marta Linden, Melville Cooper, Norma Varden, Ann Richards, Elizabeth Risdon, Charles Waldron, Henry Daniell, Lumsden Hare, Frederick Worlock, Alan Napier, Una O’Connor and Ian Wolfe.

It was a box office sensation. In fact demand for tickets was so great on its New York premiere that the box office opened at 7:45 each morning at Radio City Music Hall, where it set a record as the longest-running film to date with a 12-week run. The manager said it could have played another 12 weeks, but MGM’s parent company, Loew’s, pulled it to show it in its own cinemas.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 3127

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