Simply A Masterpiece

Pretty Good

Fantastic!

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

I found the idea at the core of Random Harvest pretty moving. What if the person you loved couldn't remember you? There's something mystical about memory. We're nostalgic about our favourite things from childhood. It's a profound feeling when very old memories are triggered by a sense or a thought. Luke believed there was good in Darth Vader despite an overwhelming lack of evidence. We want to believe everything is remembered, somewhere deep down. True love cannot be entirely forgotten. It must live on somewhere.Ronald Colman walks out of an asylum when nobody is watching. He was there because he lost his memory near the end of the war. Maybe from an injury or from stress or shock. He doesn't talk much. But he meets a friendly lady (Greer Garson) by chance and she goes out of her way to help him. She trusts him for some reason. He appreciates her kindness and seems to recover his mental stability. Eventually, they fall in love.The movie maintains tension as we don't know where it is heading and we know nothing about this man or his nature. More stuff happens and his memory problems become an issue. The movie takes place over many years. It's a little tricky piecing things together as the film is indirect with a lot of information. It's not always obvious how much time has passed or what has happened to people. But it does make sense overall.One part of the plot in particular seems far-fetched. I'm skeptical about whether it's possible or has ever occurred in real life. But it creates the situation that the romance and drama reside within. If we simply accept it, the concept is powerful and affecting. The important thing is that the story and acting are very good. And the music is also very nice. I was unexpectedly moved to tears by the end of the movie. The feelings of Garson's character really resonated with me. And it's just a wonderfully beautiful story anyway. I was frustrated that Garson wasn't saying certain things but now I think I understand why. I'm very happy I discovered this movie. We watch movies to be affected and this one did that in many ways.

Possibly the ultimate weepie,Random Harvest is directed by Mervyn LeRoy,produced by Sidney Farnklin,with a screenplay by Arthur Wimperis,Claudine West and George Froeschel, is based on the novel by James Hilton and stars Ronald Coleman,Greer Garson,Susan Peters,Henry Travers and Philip Dorn.Charles Rainier(Ronald Coleman)is a World War One veteran who cannot remember anything from his past,not even who he is.He has great difficulty in speaking due to shell shock.He is a patient at an asylum when news of the wars end comes through.He goes for a walk in the grounds and escapes into the town.There he meets beautiful music hall singer Paula(Greer Garson)she nicknames him Smithy and tries to help him remember his past.He cannot but she does enable him to regain his speech and the two fall in love and marry.Paula gives birth to a daughter and all seems well until Smithy receives a job offer and goes to Liverpool for an interview.He is struck down in the street by a taxi,the fall causes his blocked memories to come back to him,but there's a catch,he now remembers nothing of Paula or their life together.Paula searches for him and eventually discovers he is now Charles Rainier and takes a job as secretary at his firm to be near him,can she make him remember her?Well grab the biggest Kleenex box you can find and some chocolates and get caught up in this to find out.Coleman(in an Oscar nominated performance)is mesmerising as both the shy and awkward Smithy and the powerful but lonely Rainier,with Garson simply enchanting as the luminous love of his life.Susan Peters also received an Oscar nomination for her role as Kitty Rainier's young fiancé. Susan could have become a star after this but she sadly became paralysed when she was injured in a hunting accident and died a few years later.One of the best romances of the studio era,Random Harvest is one that you won't forget in a hurry.

I'd been looking forward to this for several years. It was no disappointment at all. Hilton's novel is long and episodic and to a certain extent so is the film, but it never strays from its narrative and maintains its leisurely pace without seeming either pushed or dragging. This was made in the throes of war and the "English" environment was meant to woo the international (and particularly American) audience, however indirectly. Part of it was rather unashamedly "tea cozy" and "Hollywood quaint" in depicting the English scene, a bit too cutesy or endearing and too often cloying to the senses. We had the white picket fence, the tree all in flower, primroses round the path - no wishing well though... and thank heavens no Greyfriar's Bobby to melt the hearts of the kids and chew up the scenery to boot. The performances were excellent and the script beautifully organized.Ronald Colman was a bit old for the part but Garson was splendid throughout. I can fully understand that this was her favorite film. I'm ordinarily not a big fan of Le Roy or Hilton but this was truly a lovely trip.Curtis Stotlar

I have a tendency to like LeRoy's thirties movie best ("I'm a fugitive from a chain gang" "they won't forget" "Waterloo bridge" ) but "random harvest " is a superb melodrama which does not forget the zeitgeist of the time:mysterious past ,lapses of memory,Freudian sides were present in many Hitchcock,Lang ,Siodmak and Tourneur of the time.Le Roy's is psychoanalytical melodrama (whereas theirs were thrillers) Greer Garson was Le Roy's favourite actress at the time :she had been Edna Gabley who devoted her life to orphans ("Blossoms in the dust") and the same year Wyler's "Mrs Minniver" followed by another Le Roy's work "Madame Curie" (to think that there are French critics who do not like that movie!)So it is surprising to see a cast against type Greer Garson portray a music hall dancer (she manages quite well though).She won't stay in the job for long anyway and the rest of the movie shows Greer Garson in her usual role :an actress who never overplays -which in melodramas can be dreadful- and plays with restraint and sensitivity.The structure of the movie is bizarre ,there are several parts with sometimes a lack of connection between them ;take Garson's reappearance after the greedy family episode .Few scenes in the pure melodrama genre leave the viewer ill at ease like this one.In its own way ,it predates the second part of "Vertigo" .The end of the movie is what we have got to call "catharsis" ,or how the hero finally comes to term with his past .Ronald Coleman may seem a bit too old in the first scenes but as the movie at least spans a decade or more ,it's not a big problem,except may be for the short romance with his distant niece .Melodrama buffs cannot ignore "random harvest" .