Random Harvest (1942)

Director:

Mervyn LeRoy

Writers:

Claudine West (screenplay) and
George Froeschel (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

14 September 1943 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

It's Great. Great Stars . . . A Great Story . . . A Great Author!

Plot:

An amnesiac World War I vet falls in love with a music hall star, only to suffer an accident which restores his original memories but erases his post-War life.

Plot Keywords:

Memory | Music Hall | Love | Secretary | Marriage

Awards:

Nominated for 7 Oscars.

Cast

Ronald Colman	...	Smithy
Greer Garson	...	Paula
Philip Dorn	...	Dr. Jonathan Benet
Susan Peters	...	Kitty
Henry Travers	...	Dr. Sims
Reginald Owen	...	'Biffer'
Bramwell Fletcher	...	Assistant
Rhys Williams	...	Sam
Una O'Connor	...	Tobacconist
Aubrey Mather	...	Sheldon
Margaret Wycherly	...	Mrs. Deventer
Arthur Margetson	...	Chet
Melville Cooper	...	Uncle George
Alan Napier	...	Julian
Jill Esmond	...	Lydia
Marta Linden	...	Jill
Ann Richards	...	Bridget
Norma Varden	...	Julia
David Cavendish	...	Henry
Ivan F. Simpson	...	The Vicar (as Ivan Simpson)
Marie De Becker	...	Vicar's Wife
Charles Waldron	...	Mr. Lloyd seeking lost son - Asylum
Elisabeth Risdon	...	Mrs. Lloyd seeking lost son - Asylum
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Lowden Adams	...	Clerk (uncredited)
Harry Allen	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Jimmy Aubrey	...	Man outside Asylum (uncredited)
Olive Blakeney	...	Miss Barnes (uncredited)
David Clyde	...	Lodgekeeper at Random Hall (uncredited)
Alec Craig	...	Comedian (uncredited)
Mrs. Gardner Crane	...	Mrs. Sims (uncredited)
Harold De Becker	...	Milk delivery man (uncredited)
Helena Phillips Evans	...	Ella (uncredited)
Herbert Evans	...	Member of Parliament (uncredited)
Al Ferguson	...	Workman (uncredited)
Edward Fielding	...	Prime Minister (uncredited)
Leatrice Joy Gilbert	...	Minor Role (uncredited)
Lumsden Hare	...	Sir John (uncredited)
Sam Harris	...	Member of Parliament (uncredited)
Winifred Harris	...	Ballet (uncredited)
Forrester Harvey	...	Cabby (uncredited)
James Hilton	...	Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Keith Hitchcock	...	Commissionaire (uncredited)
Colin Kenny	...	Workman (uncredited)
Terry Kilburn	...	Newsboy on sidewalk (uncredited)
George Kirby	...	Conductor (uncredited)
Clement May	...	Beddoes (uncredited)
Cyril McLaglen	...	Liverpool policeman (uncredited)
Kay Medford	...	Wife (uncredited)
Leonard Mudie	...	Old man witnessing accident (uncredited)
Gil Perkins	...	Hospital attendant (uncredited)
Hilda Plowright	...	Paula's nurse (uncredited)
Clifford Severn	...	Albert (uncredited)
Harry Shannon	...	Badgeley - Melbridge Works (uncredited)
C. Montague Shaw	...	Julia's husband (uncredited)
Reginald Sheffield	...	Judge (uncredited)
Arthur Shields	...	Liverpool chemist (uncredited)
Arthur Space	...	Traumatized patient #2 (uncredited)
Donald Stuart	...	2nd Liverpool Cabby (uncredited)
Cyril Thornton	...	Asylum guard (uncredited)
John Van Eyck	...	Workman (uncredited)
Pax Walker	...	Sheila (uncredited)
Frank Whitbeck	...	Trailer Narrator (uncredited)
Ian Wolfe	...	Registrar of Births (uncredited)
Frederick Worlock	...	Margaret's lawyer (uncredited)

Directed by
Mervyn LeRoy

Writing credits
Claudine West		(screenplay) and
George Froeschel		(screenplay) and
Arthur Wimperis		(screenplay)
James Hilton		(novel)

Produced by
Sidney Franklin	....	producer

Original Music by
Herbert Stothart

Cinematography by
Joseph Ruttenberg

Film Editing by
Harold F. Kress

Art Direction by
Cedric Gibbons

Set Decoration by
Edwin B. Willis

Costume Design by
Robert Kalloch		(gowns) (as Kalloch)

Makeup Department
Jack Dawn	....	makeup designer
Sydney Guilaroff	....	hair stylist

Art Department
Randall Duell	....	associate art director
Jack D. Moore	....	associate set decorator (as Jack Moore)

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording director

Music Department
Daniele Amfitheatrof	....	composer: additional music (uncredited)
Murray Cutter	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Paul Marquardt	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Leonid Raab	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Ernst Matray	....	stager: "She's Ma Daisy"

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1942) (USA) (theatrical)
• Ceskoslovenská Filmová Spolecnost Pújcovna Filmú (194?) (Czechoslovakia) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (19??) (USA) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (????) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

125 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Canada:PG (video rating) | Australia:G | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #8545)

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Ronald Colman had first-hand experience of shell shock - he had fought in the British army at the Battle of Ypres in World War I, during which he was also gassed.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: In the sequence where Rainer (Colman) see his wife off on a train (about 113m into the film), there is a tracking shot as the two walk down the station's platform. The shadow of the camera is briefly, but clearly, visible on a pillar that moves through the foreground of this shot.

Quotes:

Smithy: Paula, it's - it's a lot of nerve, but - I'm - I've fallen in love with you. I'm asking you to marry me, on a - on a check for two guineas.
Paula: Smithy, don't ask me, please. I might take you up on it. I'm just that shameless. I've run after you from the very beginning; you know I have. I've never let you out of my sight since I first saw you in that little shop.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "As Time Goes By: A Trip to Los Angeles (#3.8)" (1994)

One Of The Three Most Emotionally Satisfying Movies Ever Made.

Along with NOW, VOYAGER and CASABLANCA, RANDOM HARVEST is one of the three most emotionally satisfying movies to ever come out of Hollywood's classic period, and a great example of the best that MGM had to offer in the '40s. Beautifully accomplished in every department from writing to art direction to cinematography to scoring, you have only to watch the first scene (so like REBECCA's) to be drawn in by it and then consistently surprised and entertained. And reading the 28 other comments here, I am struck by the unanimity of opinion -- because what makes the contrived plot believable scene by scene, and what causes the picture as a whole to live so warmly in the memory, is the unbeatable work from Ronald Colman and Greer Garson.

More than MRS. MINIVER, this is the archetypal Garson performance: her tact, gentle humor and intelligent restraint are in perfect service to her character and the story. If she seems too starry and aristocratic to be a lowly music hall performer, she is right in every other respect, particularly as an efficient secretary, society hostess and perfect helpmate. And this is Ronald Colman's best work ever. He should have won his Oscar for this lovely, subtle performance rather than for the strained work he did in A DOUBLE LIFE. Full of wistfulness as the amnesiac early in the film, there is real heartbreak in the way he says the line "I would have liked to have belonged to them" about the couple he hopes will turn out to be his parents. But he is just as convincing later as the confident, energetic 'Industrial Prince of England.'

Colman and Garson are the perfect grownup romantic couple: they make intelligence and maturity seem impossibly glamorous, and they embody the idea that friendship, loyalty and mutual respect must be at the center of every enduring love.