Random Harvest
Tags: melodrama, romantic, flashback

Plot synopsis:
"John Smith" (Ronald Colman) is a British officer who was gassed and became shell shocked in the trenches during the First World War. He is confined to an asylum as an unidentified inmate because he has lost his memory and has trouble speaking. When the war ends, jubilation erupts in the nearby town of Melbridge and the gatekeepers abandon their posts to join the celebration. With no one to stop him, Smith simply wanders off.
In town, he is befriended by singer Paula (Greer Garson). She guesses he is from the asylum but as he seems harmless, she arranges for him to join her travelling theatrical group. After an incident that threatens to bring unwanted attention, Paula takes Smith away to a secluded country village, where they marry and are blissfully happy.
"Smithy", as Paula calls him, discovers a literary talent and tries writing to earn a living. Paula remains home with their newborn baby while Smithy goes to Liverpool, for a job interview with a newspaper. There, he is struck by a taxi. When he regains consciousness, his past memory is restored but his life with Paula is now forgotten. He is Charles Rainier, the son of a wealthy businessman. None of his meagre possessions, including a key, provide any clue how he got there from the battleground of France.
Charles returns home on the day of his father's funeral, to the family's amazement as he had been given up for dead. Fifteen-year-old Kitty (Susan Peters), the stepdaughter of one of Charles' siblings, becomes infatuated with her "uncle".
Charles wants to return to college but the mismanaged family business needs him and he puts off his own desires to safeguard the jobs of the many employees and to restore the family fortune. After a few years, a newspaper touts him as the "Industrial Prince of England".
Meanwhile, Paula has been searching for her Smithy. Their son having died as an infant, she returns to work as a secretary. One day, she sees Charles's picture in a newspaper and manages to become his executive assistant, calling herself Margaret (Paula being her stage name), hoping that her presence will jog his memory. Her confidante and admirer, Dr. Jonathan Benet (Phillip Dorn), warns her that revealing her identity would only cause Charles to resent her.
As Kitty grows up, she sends Charles love letters. Eventually they become engaged. Margaret has Smithy declared legally dead, seven years having elapsed since he left her, dissolving their marriage. However, a hymn that Kitty is considering for their upcoming wedding triggers a vague memory in Charles. Kitty realizes that he still loves someone else and heartbroken, breaks off the engagement.
When Margaret hears Charles is in Liverpool, trying one last time to piece together his lost years, she rushes there. They recover his suitcase from a hotel but he recognizes nothing. Charles is then approached to stand for Parliament. After his election, in which Margaret provided invaluable assistance, he feels the need for a wife in his new role. He proposes to her, more as a business proposition than a romantic one and she accepts.
They become an ideal couple, at least to all outward appearance. She is the perfect society hostess. They sometimes discuss his lost past and at one point, she tells him of her own lost love, without disclosing that it is Charles. He hopes their life together can fill the void they both feel. Desperately unhappy, Margaret decides to take an extended vacation abroad by herself. Before her liner sails, she revisits the hamlet where she and Smithy lived.
Meanwhile, Charles is called upon to mediate a strike at the Melbridge Cable Works. He succeeds. As he walks through town, the familiar surroundings and the celebrating workers begin to unlock his lost memories and eventually lead him to the cottage he and Paula shared. Hesitantly, he tries the old key he kept, and finds that it unlocks the door.
Margaret, who had been about to leave for the boat train, makes a casual remark to the current innkeeper about the former owner. The innkeeper remarks that someone else had just that morning asked about the same woman. Margaret goes to the cottage and calls "Smithy!"; he turns, memories flooding back; he cries out "Paula!" and they embrace.

Review: You will see that Smithy/Charles Rainier is quite a young man at the beginning -- however, I did not find Ronald Colman too old in the role, he overcomes the age difference with his splendid performance.
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.
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.
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..
The two leads are perfect, the plot twists and turns, and Hollywood 'England' has never looked more lovely.I'm also fascinated by the opening, given that Coleman had been through WWI, and must have known people with bad shell-shock, even if he escaped it himself.
(For a modern take, try Pat Barker's 'Regeneration' trilogy.)I think one of the reasons this sort of film is so appealing, is because of it's now-dated attitudes to commitment and relationships - you just can't imagine this story (or for that matter Brief Encounter) working nowadays - the protagonists would have taken shortcuts.But here's to the days when this was the way one behaved!.
It's never overly sentimental, it's wistful and suspenseful at times, and buoyed by supreme performances from Ronald Colman and Greer Garson.And who knew Greer could sing and dance like Marlene Dietrich!
I cannot get enough of Ronald Colman's voice,especially in this movie.He has the most beautiful inflections of any actor I've heard,on par with Orson Welles,I think,but in a different way.
Greer Garson is incredibly beautiful and sexy in this film and I would dearly loved to be "picked up" by her like Smithy was !!
While the story can seem a bit implausible with too much thought, it is presented with such great truth, sincerity, and momentum that the viewer is swept along effortlessly.Like other Hilton books and their associated film translations (such as Lost Horizon and Goodbye, Mr. Chips), this movie has an exceptionally memorable and satisfying ending.
As has the story, which is romantic to the hilt, heart-warming and incredibly touching, you're guaranteed to need tissues when Charles doesn't return to Paula after going to Liverpool and when his memory starts to come back.
A beautifully crafted movie, with wonderful performances, particularly from the two leads.It does have, as others have commented, a truly preposterous plot and, lets face it, you could pick a million holes in this film, but no - one who sees this will care a jot.
What a wonderful and beautiful climax right at the end of the film when Greer Garson exclaims "Smithy" and Ronald Colman is bone-chilled as his mind recovers its memory of lost love when he replies with "Paula." Your heart should melt at this point and if it does not there is something seriously wrong with you as a human being..
Greer Garson and Ronald Colman personify British goodness and decency and are perfect in their roles, though Colman is a little old for the early scenes.
Personally, I find the story parabolic on a deeply significant level: indeed we all are children of a great--yes, royal--family; sometimes we live our mortal lives with a dismissive attitude toward what turn out to be the turning points in our lives; oftentimes it takes us all our lives to find out who we really are; we walk through life constantly "adjusting our glasses" to see more clearly, when the very key is to adjust OURSELVES so that the "glasses" we HAVE help us see clearly; and finally, love DOES conquer all.See this fabulous movie with a dear one and experience the magic..
"Random Harvest" will have you reaching for the handkerchiefs even after you've seen it a dozen times.And the movie is all Garson and Ronald Colman.
The best movie Colman made was "A Double Life", which is a devastating story of an actor lost in his stage role and going mad.
Things such as Ronald Colman and Greer Garson's performances, which were brilliant, and the dramatic and heart-warming story.I don't want to give away all the details, because this is one movie I believe everyone should see!
I am certainly aware of the many parodies that have been done of the amnesia theme of this picture, including one by Carol Burnett, but the flawless performances of Ronald Colman and Greer Garson, kept me entranced for the length of the film.
I think my favorite moment is when Ronald Colman returns to the city where he had been in the asylum and, needing a cigarette, turns to his colleague and says, there's a tobacco shop just around the corner.A warm feel-good movie, one that I could see time and again.
I've seen it lots of times now, the lustrous and heartwarming atmosphere always sucking me in.War veteran Ronald Colman suffering from loss of memory stumbles blindly out of an asylum in 1917 and into the arms of Greer Garson who helps him make a new life until he unfortunately regains his memory a few years later.
The usual laughable olde Hollywood picture of immutable master servant relations and the proper working class deference shown to men and women of pedigree I pass over, except to say Thanks Guvnor And Gord Bless You Sir!In short, it's a wonderful film, perhaps the best of its kind and hopefully worth your time as it is mine and many others.
The story has WW1 amnesiac Ronald Coleman finding true love with  music hall girl Greer Garson - only to lose it when his memory returns.
Long ago---when life was far more simple-----and sentiment as well as romance were qualities to be cherished-----there was "Random Harvest." At that time, it was no sin to cry at a movie because it moved you in an emotional way.
"Random Harvest" is the quintessential M-G-M high gloss romantic film from its Golden Age. Others have presented the plot of this marvelous story and noted the touching performances of Greer Garson and Ronald Colman.
Being male, and at the time Random Harvest  was first  issued I was in my early teens, I wasn't particularly interested in  what I sneeringly referred to as " women's tear jerker films" But I thought Greer Garson was absolutely drop dead gorgeous - how many young fellows at that time thought that about her, I wonder, and I also thought that Ronald Colman was one hell of an actor ,  so I went to see it, taking a girl with me as an excuse!I really enjoyed this film, and even now consider it to be one of the all time great films from the Hollywood era.Incredible plot wise,  almost impossible to believe, but made credible by two stars who were at the zenith of their field at the time.They don't make them like this anymore " After 60 years it's still a great film !
In every respect, especially its co-stars Greer Garson and Ronald Coleman, 'Random Harvest' is, and will forever remain, THE unsurpassable romantic nonpareil that it is.Attempting to remake this masterpiece would be the criminal, sad equivalent of graffiti vandals overspraying the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
As much as I love "Mrs. Miniver" and "Forsyte Saga" as well as other roles, I have always thought this was Greer Garson's best film.
Everything about this magnificent motion picture defines it, direction, sets, supporting cast, costuming, music, and of course two of the truly great romantic leads of the era, Ronald Colman and Greer Garson.
The grace of Greer Garson and Ronald Colman's portrayals in Random Harvest grant us an infinitesimally possible hope that sublime goodness and nobility may sometime, somewhere, exist..
This is one of those films that the term "They don't make 'em like that anymore' certainly applies to - only in the 1940s, at MGM could RANDOM HARVEST have been made - a decade later and it probably wouldn't have worked, which is why it still holds up and why a remake isn't necessary and wouldn't work.Yes, Ronald Colman was a little long in the tooth to play Charles Ranier, but his presence is so forceful that you don't really mind.
Adding to this cast are Susan Peters, Henry Travers, Reginald Owen and Bramwell Fletcher.About the story, it's simply about a World War I vet who loses his memory, meets and falls in love with Garson, whom he marries.
Hilton is also famous for his novel "Lost Horizon," which was made into a very successful film - well, the first time around anyway.Greer Garson is a beautiful young music hall performer who saves an escapee from a mental asylum, "Smithy," played by Ronald Colman, who suffered trauma as a World War I soldier.
This is a very sweet story that really touches the heart.Susan Peters plays the young girl in love with Rainier - the Colman character's real name.
Everything is first class- story, directing, cinematography, supporting cast, music- but the two principals are what keep the movie from slipping into sentimentality and give it its gloss.Greer Garson and Ronald Coleman are both wonderful, quivering with repressed emotion in parts that could have easily been overacted.
Greer Garson seems a bit miscast at first (especially to those who've seen her noble, earnest performance of the title role in "Mrs. Miniver"), but she quickly grows on you, the same way she did in "Pride and Prejudice" (probably her best movie, that).One of the best films of 1942, "Random Harvest" is a big, terrifically entertaining, high-gloss tearjerker.
I enjoyed the picture - how could it go wrong with Ronald Coleman and Greer Garson?But I think the plot played fast and loose with the symptoms of amnesia.What Smithy had, given his circumstances (trench warfare and all that) was undoubtedly 'organic'amnesia which rarely lasts for long periods of time.
Plausibility was never a strong suit of 1940s romantic melodramas, but even at that "Random Harvest" is just too much to bear.This ridiculous twaddle finds Ronald Colman as a WWI veteran who has lost his memory and wanders out of the mental institution in which he has been living, only to be adopted by Greer Garson, an actress/singer who performs atrocious musical numbers in terrible stage revues, and who falls in love with him instantly and marries him.
This glossy romantic melodrama has Ronald Colman as a WW I amnesia victim, and Greer Garson as his main love interest.
If you can get by the very high hokum factor, you can expect a pleasant time; if not, don't say I didn't warn you.I concur with James Agee's contemporary review, in his very first film column for The Nation: "I would like to recommend Random Harvest to those who can stay interested in Ronald Colman's amnesia for two hours, and who could with pleasure eat a bowl of Yardley's shaving soap for breakfast.".
It played for ten weeks at the huge Radio City Music Hall, filling it with appreciative fans who couldn't get enough of this sentimental James Hilton romance.Most of its success is due to the charisma of RONALD COLMAN and GREER GARSON, both at their absolute peak of professional charm and poise, with Colman doing a magnificent job of making the shell-shocked "Smithy" one of his most appealing characters and Garson giving one of her most radiant performances as Paula.But if you take a moment to examine the story contents, it makes you realize what an accomplishment the performances are since the story has so many flaws in realism, particularly regarding the instant falling in love that happens when Garson first discovers "Smithy" is from an asylum and then her refusal to tell him the truth for a long period of time while she patiently waits for him to get his memory back.
That's just as well, because LeRoy's direction is slow-paced at times, almost cumbersome, letting the film run to an inordinate length before letting "Smithy" and Paula get together for a final embrace while cherry blossoms fall and the music swells to an appropriate volume for "The End".I don't rank this film as high as WATERLOO BRIDGE or TO EACH HIS OWN, both romances that skillfully told a tale without resorting to the glossy romantic close-ups and violin music that "Harvest" uses to accentuate the chemistry of Colman and Garson--a distinctly MGM trait.But they do have enormous chemistry and that is the factor that makes the whole unbelievable story work..
I have a tendency to like LeRoy's thirties movie best ("I'm a fugitive from a chain gang" "they won't forget" "Waterloo bridge" ) but "random harvest " is a superb melodrama which does not forget the zeitgeist of the time:mysterious past ,lapses of memory,Freudian sides were present in many Hitchcock,Lang ,Siodmak and Tourneur of the time.Le Roy's is psychoanalytical melodrama (whereas theirs were thrillers) Greer Garson was Le Roy's favourite actress at the time :she had been Edna Gabley who devoted her life to orphans ("Blossoms in the dust") and the same year Wyler's "Mrs Minniver" followed by another Le Roy's work "Madame Curie" (to think that there are French critics who do not like that movie!)So it is surprising to see a cast against type Greer Garson portray a music hall dancer (she manages quite well though).She won't stay in the job for long anyway and the rest of the movie shows Greer Garson in her usual role :an actress who never overplays -which in melodramas can be dreadful- and plays with restraint and sensitivity.The structure of the movie is bizarre ,there are several parts with sometimes a lack of connection between them ;take Garson's reappearance after the greedy family episode .Few scenes in the pure melodrama genre leave the viewer ill at ease like this one.In its own way ,it predates the second part of "Vertigo" .The end of the movie is what we have got to call "catharsis" ,or how the hero finally comes to term with his past .Ronald Coleman may seem a bit too old in the first scenes but as the movie at least spans a decade or more ,it's not a big problem,except may be for the short romance with his distant niece .Melodrama buffs cannot ignore "random harvest" ..
But that's the magic of the film, we put up with every twist and turn because we figure these two will find one another in the end.To have Greer Garson play the role of Paula/Margaret, was a stroke of genius.
The two stars of this film, without a doubt, are the folks with top billing: Ronald Colman and Greer Garson.
As the young thing desperately in love with Colman, Susan Peters plays her character very well.I like the end, where Smithy and Paula go back to their original home, and where of course the key fits.
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.
This one flaw is the reason that, for me, I can't give the film a "10".I hold Greer Garson and Ronald Colman in almost equal esteem.
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.
One of the true classic Golden Age romantic dramas, Random Harvest's plot may seem completely illogical (Colman marries Garson twice without knowing it??) on paper yet somehow it works beautifully and I really believed in every minute of it.
Garson gives an equally great performance- if she hadn't won the Oscar for Mrs Miniver in that same year she would have walked away with it for Random Harvest, hands down.Aside from the plot contrivances (which don't really bother me at all- it's a movie, folks!), this is a top-notch film all round.
Susan Peters gives a supporting performance worthy of note- she handles a part that could so easily be unsympathetic (because we are supposed to-and do-love Garson) with great skill, making you believe in her character.Perhaps the film is a trifle too long, the scene where Smithy/Charles and Paula chase up his luggage, and he doesn't recognise it, is probably unnecessary because it doesn't really move the plot along.
"Random Harvest", one of James Hilton's trilogy of most important works, has as its subject the interesting story of a war veteran who suffers first battle shock then total loss of memory, who makes a new life but always with the sense of having lost another life he had known--a youthful idyll whose details he has forfeited to fate; one whose memory always stays with him as an unreachable ideal...The stars of this compelling and hard-to-forget drama are Ronald Colman and Greer Garson.
It begins with Paula's (Greer Garson) virtual pick-up of a World War I veteran (Ronald Colman) who can't even remember his name.
Superb, endearing film with Ronald Colman giving a masterful performance as Smitty, an amnesiac who finds happiness with actress-singer Greer Garson.
It's so entertaining, and both leads, Greer Garson (as Paula/Margarite) and Ronald Coleman (as Smithy/Charles) have great chemistry together.
Ronald Colman and Greer Garson give fine performances.