Random Harvest (1942)

For having a relatively low budget, the film's style and overall art direction are immensely impressive.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

In many ways, Random Harvest epitomizes the quintessential old Hollywood film. The story is engaging and never loses your attention. The music in the background appropriately captures the mood and never intrudes. Ronald Colman and Greer Garson give fine performances. Garson, a true star at the time, radiates the screen as usual, and in a way few other actresses have done before or since. Of course, while the story doesn't disappoint, it does have its flaws. Colman seems quite a bit too old to have been a soldier in World War I. The idea that an amnesiac would be institutionalized as if he had suffered brain damage also seems a bit far-fetched. Moreover, why would he not have dog tags to identify him? And if he didn't, were there no other soldiers who would have known him at the time of his injury? Other questions are begged. Why would his family not have investigated his fate? Why would Colman's character not attempt to find out about his past? Why does his speech impediment suddenly disappear? Why would a woman marry an amnesiac before trying to learn if he was already married and had a family?After the car accident, he discovers he has lost three years of his life. Why wouldn't he seek to retrace his steps and find out where he was and what he had done? Instead he heads home, where his family greets his return from the dead as if it were just another day -- easily the weakest part of the storyline.Alas, perhaps I'm being too logical! Random Harvest is still enjoyable if you can overlook these obvious holes. The movie wouldn't work otherwise, and ultimately it does what movie watchers love best: deliver us a happy ending.

. . . RANDOM HARVEST provided the blueprint for thousands of men to subsequently establish multiple households with multiple wives. Sure, technically "Smithy"\Charles commits double marriage with the SAME WOMAN (so that the censors would remain happy). But it's not hard to read between the lines. When you enjoy Dale Carnegie Get Rich Quick training, you learn to compartmentalize your life (think Bernie Madoff). Though the military man in this movie harvests his women serially due to his randomly alternating realities, it doesn't take too much imagination on the viewer's part to tweak the plot and shorten the time between towns\households\wives from this flick's lengthy 3 to 15 years down to a more reasonable 3 to 15 days or hours. Though some men have been known to reap their RANDOM HARVEST among as many as four or five separate families, this strikes me as being too stressful, not unlike a show performer trying to keep five stacks of plates perpetually spinning atop five tall poles (sooner or later, some china is going to shatter). However, if an amnesiac can "randomy harvest" the same woman twice, how hard can it be for someone with all their marbles to seed and harvest two or three a few fields miles apart?

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.

The Kleenex inspired finale will doubtless appeal to romantics seeking a happy ending, but I always have trouble putting films like this under the microscope. There's so much suspension of disbelief necessary to pull this one off that it becomes a distraction. 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. This is not my idea of rational behavior, and for Paula to persevere in this romance and virtually smuggle her 'Smithy' out of Melbridge County doesn't seem the best way to embark on a new life together. But not leaving well enough alone, the story then goes on to have Colman's character restore his pre-War memories and reclaim his former past, but in the process forget about his marriage to Paula. When she turns up as the secretary to the new Industrial Prince of England, it was almost too much to bear for this reality based viewer. I won't even go into how the newly married couple managed to set up a household in the English countryside with no visible means of support. This was, you'll remember, before he set out for London for that job interview with The Mercury, and Paula had long since left her position with the dance hall troupe.For the sake of a better review, I'd have to sweep virtually all of this impossible stuff under the rug, along with fifteen year old Kitty's (Susan Peters) starry eyed obsession with a man easily three times her own age, only to throw him over without a second thought when she 'suddenly' came to her senses. Certainly the characters deserved better than to be held hostage to a desire to find normalcy once again. Though the film held firm those traits of enduring love and loyalty, it just wasn't convincing enough for me. For their part, Colman and Garson hold up their end with portrayals that work magic if you're not particularly concerned with realism. I wish I could be more positive, but this one just didn't work for me.