Random Harvest

One of MGM's glossiest romantic dramas from the “Golden Age,” 1942's Random Harvest not only boasted superior production values but also established the self-sacrificing screen persona that made leading lady Greer Garson one of the top stars of the '40s. Garson's superb as the music-hall entertainer who meets and falls in love with a shell-shocked amnesiac World War I veteran (Ronald Colman) escape life in an asylum. After the pair marry and have a child, Colman is struck by a car in a traumatic accident that restores his original memory but wipes out any knowledge of Garson and their child. Returning to his well-to-do roots, Colman becomes a wealthy industrialist, while Garson, in order to remain close, takes a job as Colman's secretary, and the two fall in love all over again. Based on the bestselling novel by James Hilton, author of Lost Horizon (the screen version of which also starred Colman), this stirring drama provided the uplift so desperately needed by World War II audiences, while also garnering a total of seven Oscar nominations. Mervyn LeRoy's direction offers numerous opportunities to his top-billed stars, with veteran leading man Colman acquitting himself well, but relative newcomer Garson overshadows him with a performance that's carefully modulated and intensely emotional at the same time. DVD extras include a pair of vintage shorts and an audio-only Lux Radio Theatre adaptation starring Colman and Garson. Highly recommended. (E. Hulse)