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Movies / On DVD / Random Harvest
Random Harvest

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Random Harvest (1942)

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Reviews Counted:9

Fresh:8

Rotten:1

Average Rating:7.6/10

Runtime: 2 hrs 8 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Based on the novel by James Hilton (whose LOST HORIZON and GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS had already been made into profitable films), this lavish MGM show features Ronald Colman as a soldier who has lost his... Based on the novel by James Hilton (whose LOST HORIZON and GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS had already been made into profitable films), this lavish MGM show features Ronald Colman as a soldier who has lost his memory. He escapes from the hospital to find himself alone on the streets as the public cheers the end of World War I. Showgirl Paula, played by showstopper Greer Garson, takes home the handsome amnesiac, and the two start a blissful marriage while leading a life of poverty. But when Colman is hit by a car, he regains his memory from before the war while losing all records of the events since--including his marriage to Garson. Colman resumes his life as aristocrat Charles Rainier while Garson takes on a fictitious identity to become his secretary, hoping that one day he will recognize her for his wife. This blockbuster romance directed by the great Mervyn LeRoy survives today on the heat the two stars emanate for each other. [More]

Starring: Greer Garson, Ronald Colman, Philip Dorn, Susan Peters

Starring: Greer Garson, Ronald Colman, Philip Dorn, Susan Peters, Reginald Owen, Edmund Gwenn, Henry Travers, Margaret Wycherly

Director: Mervyn LeRoy

Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Producer: Sidney Franklin
Screenwriter: Claudine West, George Froeschel, Arthur Wimperis
Composer: Herbert Stothart

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Jan 11, 2005

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • Paula Smith (Greer Garson) is the secretary of industrialist Charles Rainier (Ronald Colman). She's also his wife, which Charles does not know. Shell-shocked during World War I, he doesn't recall his days as her husband, John Smith. Advised not to endanger Charles' fragile mental state, Paula cannot openly reveal her identity. She must find other ways to help him remember their life together. From the novel by James Hilton (Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Lost Horizon) comes one of the great sentimental romance movies. Garson's Paula, alongside her same-year triumph as Mrs. Miniver, established her persona as the strong, self-sacrificing wife. Random Harvest gathered seven Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture and Colman as Best Actor) and also reaped a box-office harvest as the year's #4 hit.
  • Award: AFI - Top 100 Passions
  • Source: Warner Home Video
  •  
     
     
     

    Reviews for Random Harvest

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    1 - 14 (sorted by critic A-Z)
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    the abundance of talent rescues the material

    Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
    12/31/04
    David Bezanson
    David Bezanson
    Filmcritic.com

    LeRoy's schmaltzy and literary romantic melodrama, about a WWI vet who suffers from amnesia, was a huge commercial hit due to Greer Garson and Ronald Colman's acting and the fact that it was released in the midst of WWII.

    Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
    03/01/08
    Emanuel Levy
    Emanuel Levy
    EmanuelLevy.Com

    Parts of it are tender and beautiful, but other parts are overplayed, maudlin, and about as subtle as a clunk on the head or a taxi across the sternum.

    Full Review Source: Goatdog's Movies | comment Comment
    04/17/05
    Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
    Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
    Goatdog's Movies

    ...it is the kind of love-found, love-lost, love-found tale that appeals to most anyone's sense of romanticism, nostalgia, and fair play.

    Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment Comment
    01/16/05
    John J. Puccio
    John J. Puccio
    DVDTown.com
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
    02/09/06
    Geoff Andrew
    Geoff Andrew
    Time Out
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
    03/25/06
    Bosley Crowther
    Bosley Crowther
    New York Times
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
    01/10/04
    Jonathan Rosenbaum
    Jonathan Rosenbaum
    Chicago Reader
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
    10/03/08
    Variety
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic
    N/R

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    Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
    05/24/03
    Channel 4 Film
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Dated, but still moving '40s classic with Garson and Colman.

    comment Comment
    02/16/06
    Steve Crum
    Steve Crum
    Video-Reviewmaster.com

    Lavish but far-fetched tearjerker

    comment Comment
    12/17/04
    Daniel Eagan
    Daniel Eagan
    Film Journal International

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    08/22/03
    Carol Cling
    Carol Cling
    Las Vegas Review-Journal

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    02/09/05
    Andy Klein
    Andy Klein
    Los Angeles CityBeat

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    11/12/04
    Nell Minow
    Nell Minow
    Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies
     
     
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