Mrs Miniver: Fine for Its Time, but Somewhat Hokey Now

During the Second World War (what author Studs Terkel once called the "good war"), all the combatant nations, both Axis and Allies, marshaled all their resources to boost the morale of the soldiers on the front line and the civilians who manned the "home fronts" and worked in the shipyards, aircraft factories, ammunition manufacturing plants, farms, and all the other industries, large and small, that contributed to each side's war efforts.

Both sides, of course, enlisted screenwriters, directors, cinematographers, composers, and actors to make films to both entertain and inspire their fighting men and the civilians back home to do their utmost to contribute to the "inevitable victory." 

Official documentaries - most of which were censored to some degree or other - were commissioned, and in the case of Nazi Germany, hate-filled anti-Semitic films such as The Eternal Jew were often dubbed into the languages of the various occupied nations (including in English for the version exhibited in the Channel Islands, the only bit of British territory under Nazi rule). 

In Japan, studios such as Toho (later to be famous for all the Japanese Godzilla flicks) released films extolling the heroic deeds of the Navy air arm (the "glorious sea eagles") and the midget submariners who attempted to infiltrate Pearl Harbor and showed audiences footage of Japanese troops shouting "Banzai" as they defeated the Americans, British, Dutch, and Australians during the early months of 1942.

Thus it's not surprising that many Hollywood filmmakers also made their fair share of blatantly propagandistic films, including William Wyler, who never denied that Mrs. Miniver, his 1941 depiction of a British family during the first two years of World War II, was made with the war effort first and foremost in his mind.

In the context of the time (1941-42), it's also not very surprising that the film was not only awarded six Oscars (including Best Picture and Best Actress for Greer Garson's portrayal of the title character), but also, as the blurb on the back cover of the Warner Bros. DVD says, "became 1942's #1 box-office hit."