Bardlerx Strictly average movie

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

sonshine-832-238715 I've seen this movie about 10 times and I plan on watching it at least 10 more times! I love everything about it with the exception of one nearly unbelievable relationship. In my opinion Susan Peters and Ronald Colman being lovers is just a wee bit (actually a lot more than just a wee bit) of a stretch to begin with; good grief he was old enough to be her father, and then there is the scene with her tearfully abandoning him in the church after gazing into his eyes for a few seconds? While that scene was very well done and quite touching, IMHO it is just too unbelievable. Too bad she died about 10 years later in a tragic accident as she was quite convincing in this movie as a perky teen and a beautiful and confident young lady. In the book she dies, and I suppose throwing that into this movie instead of her simply leaving him at the altar would have required extending the movie another 20 minutes or so perhaps making the movie too long.

treeline1 Ronald Colman stars as a shell-shocked WW1 soldier who suffers from complete amnesia. He is befriended by a kindly music hall singer (Greer Garson) and they fall in love. Inevitably, he regains his former memory and their lives change forever.Ronald Colman's dramatic voice and charismatic charm are irresistible in this movie and Greer Garson is incredibly beautiful and sympathetic; it's just a pleasure to watch them on the screen. The story is sweet and romantic and rich with characters. The movie received seven Oscar nominations in 1943. I did think the second half moved a bit slowly, but it comes to a satisfying conclusion. Recommended.

Steffi_P With the onset of war, the cinema was no longer primarily the bright world of spectacle and entertainment that it had been in the 1930s. Pictures of emotional depth began to have a significance and popularity they had never seen before, as they gave a chance for escapism not merely through distraction but through the hope for a brighter tomorrow.Random Harvest is a little different to the average tearjerker. Rather than building up situations dramatically and comically before opening the floodgates, we instead have a constant trickle of poignancy aching its way through the story. It's not an easy thing to get away with, especially in a picture so devoid of comic relief or other diversions, and yet it works through its delicate presentation and uncompromising sincerity.At its heart are two towering performances. Ronald Coleman by no means convinces as the young man he is supposed to be at the start of the picture, but he is right for the part because he remains true to the emotional reality of the character. In other words, he is always with the state of mind of his character at any given point, from the fragile, confused manner in the asylum, to the tranquillity he reaches in the new life he makes, to the stern professionalism he acquires when he regains his old memory. And yet he keeps a kind of consistency throughout that allows us to believe it is the same man. Greer Garson engages us at once with the realism and likability of her character. Later, much of that slow emotional ebb is played out on her face, as we see her handling the psychological blows that rain down on her character. The agony of her situation is never overstated, yet it is not brushed aside lightly either.Doing probably the finest job of his career is director Mervyn LeRoy. Normally LeRoy's pictures were fast-paced attention-grabbers, but here he is uncharacteristically slow and dignified. When Colman wanders through the crowds celebrating the war's end, the camera moves at his pace, making us share that impression of an outsider amid the clamour. There is a kind of disorienting feel as we (like Colman's character) hear things before we see them. The leisurely pace continues as his relationship with Garson blossoms, giving it a timeless, placeless and above all idyllic tone. In the latter half of the picture, LeRoy's aim seems to be to remove all distractions – long takes, little background movement, no close-ups for minor characters – focusing us entirely on Colman, Garson and Susan Peters. The style is smooth and seamless, without jolts, matching the story's gentle emotional tug.There isn't much else to say about Random Harvest. The performance of Susan Peters is almost on a par with the two leads, brilliantly handling the transition from flirty teenager to confident young woman. The score by Herbert Stothart is absolutely sublime, and never too intrusive, only surfacing to our attention when necessary. And this, in a way, is the reason it's hard to comment very specifically on this picture. The whole thing is constructed so beautifully to draw us into the lives of these two people that all detail becomes forgotten. Anything like comic relief or well-defined supporting characters, far from counterpointing the poignancy, would distract from it. It is the perfect movie to make you forget the world, and that is undoubtedly why audiences of the day loved it. Random Harvest captivates, and leaves you hoping for nothing more than the chance of a happy ending.

Jay Harris I first saw this 68 years ago,at the Radio City Music Hall, Way back then they had a stage show as well, & for Christmas It featured in mime ,the Birth of Jesus,plus other acts, including a symphony Orchestra.They also showed a newsreel & a cartoon.Nearly every performance was shown to near capacity audiences. The theatre had slightly under 6100 seats.We probably went to a Sunday matinée,Total cost for the three of us was probably,just under $3.00Now back to the Movie.RANDOM HARVEST was one of the best films of 1942, I still think these many years later it still would be one of the best. It stars two of the biggest names in film history.Greer Garson (who was only making film for about 3 years & will win an Oscar for her previous film MRS MINIVER) Her co-star Ronald Colman (a movie veteran who will win his Oscar in a few years for(A DOUBLE LIFE).Now leave us ignore the fact that both actors were too old for the characters. The charisma & charm of both make us believe, they were younger.Mervyn LeRoy directed & it is based on James Hilton's novel,( he also wrote LOST HORIZON). Back then Hollywood loved to change novels to suit the studio owners.I do not remember how close to the novel the film is. The story in both novel & book is pure romantic soap opera & delightful romantic fantasy,This is the way they made films back then. The scenes supposedly in Liverpool were studio made & no there is no resemblance to the real Liverpool or to real homes etc.The running time is a very fast 134 minutes, the DVD also has about an hour of interesting extras.I had not started to keep records of the movies I saw then, that hobby started in January 1943.If I had my rating would be the same as today.Ratings" **** (out of 4) 98 points (out of 100) IMDb (10 out of 10)