Chips as a sweet, caring, and patient wife to Robert Donat’s Arthur Chipping might have prompted MGM to seek similar, but more substantial roles for her. Garson was a rare instant superstar in the annals of classic Hollywood. Yet Greer Garson delivers yet another commanding performance on par with Colman’s. Colman’s character might be too old for the opening half, but his grayness is far more appropriate once his character remembers who he is. The character must be played with some awkwardness and distance from all other characters and that is exactly what Colman recreates for the screen. He conveys an incredible amount of emotional turmoil and situational confusion all through facial expressions, small gestures, and posture. His finest acting comes in the first half of the film especially in his scenes without dialogue. In this film he works between a pensive fearfulness and a more gregarious confidence all while maintaining a certain dignity and stature in his performance. Colman essentially plays two characters in the film - the pre-accident Charles and the post-accident Charles. First to Ronald Colman, an actor who survived the transition from silent film to sound for his silky, refined voice. Miniver (also starring Garson in the “Year of Greer”). Random Harvest was one of two powerhouse acting vehicles for MGM released in 1942, the other film being William Wyler's Mrs. But there is more drama yet in store for the amnesiac veteran-now-turned-industrialist-mogul. As the years pass, Charles finds himself engaged to Kitty (Susan Peters, who is not on the level of Colman and Garson but nevertheless excellent here). While in Merseyside, Smithy is struck by a taxi, his amnesia kicks out, and remembers that he is Charles Rainier and subsequents forgets his time with Paula. Paula has taken to calling Smith “Smithy” and the two soon have a child as Smithy heads to Liverpool to participate in an interview for a newspaper. ![]() Smith and Paula have a quite, but deeply felt romance, and they move into an isolated country home. He soon finds theater singer Paula (Garson), who suspects Smith is from the asylum but decides to protect and care for him instead. On November 11, Smith sneaks out of the asylum amidst the distracted and celebrating townspeople and guards. It is anything but.Īn institutionalized British soldier named “John Smith” (Colman) is minding his time in the asylum just before World War I ends. By all accounts, Random Harvest should be a creaky, dated slog. Chips (also based on a James Hilton novel and also starring Greer Garson but with Robert Donat in the title role). ![]() And lastly, Random Harvest is often considered the pinnacle achievement of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s (MGM) London branch, a branch whose creation was justified with the success of 1939's Goodbye, Mr. Random Harvest was also produced in the backdrop of the following World War and its release as a post-War movie during wartime is curious to say the least. Greer Garson plays a theater singer who falls in love with him and - you guessed it - he forgets her at some point during the film. It is easy to view sentimental pieces such as Mervyn LeRoy's Random Harvest with some disdain nowadays.Ronald Colman’s character has PTSD from his time in the trenches which has caused amnesiac spells.
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