Editing Mervyn LeRoy (section)

=== The Greer Garson pictures ===

LeRoy completed four features with English actress [[Greer Garson]], an enormously profitable property cultivated by M-G-M to appeal to their British markets during WWII.<ref>Higham and Greenberg, 1968 p. 105: "...Metro seemed especially (and shewdly, in view of the British market) imbued with [[Anglophilia]]...with Greer Garson supplying the stiff upper lip..."</ref><ref>Miller, 2009 TCM: "With [Random Harvest] and ''[[Mrs. Miniver]]'', 1942 was definitely "The Year of Greer," as some industry insiders dubbed it...the combined success of both films made her the top female star on the MGM lot, a position she would hold through the '40s."</ref><ref>Arnold, 2012 TCM: "[Garson] had been discovered by Louis B. Mayer in London in 1938."</ref>

'''''[[Blossoms in the Dust]]''''' (1941): The screenplay by [[Anita Loos]] portrays the struggle by social reformer [[Edna Gladney]] to redeem children stigmatized by [[Legitimacy (family law)|illegitimacy]]. Termed "highly romanticized" and "shamelessly sentimental" by film historian Kingley Canham,<ref>Canham, 1976 p. 157<br />Higham and Greenberg, 1968 p. 91: "Mervyn LeRoy's ''Blossoms in the Dust'' (1941) was an exquisitely designed production (photographed jointly in Technicolor by [[Karl Freund]] and [[Alfred E. Green]]) in which [[Greer Garson]] played Mrs. [[Edna Gladney]], a Texas woman who did much to remove the nineteenth-century social stigma from illegitimate children. [[Anita Loos]]'s script played free with the fact and was shamelessly sentimental, but the film nevertheless had a real feeling for the subject. As a soap opera-cum-message picture, discreetly directed and bathed in lovely pastel colors, it yielded much enjoyment."</ref> LeRoy defended the picture as virtuous and socially significant:

{{blockquote |''Blossoms in the Dust'' began my association with Greer Garson...the picture made an immediate and profound contribution to the world we live in. Between it and [[I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang|Fugitive]], I think I have contributed toward making this a better country.<ref>LeRoy and Kleiner, 1974 p. 148-149</ref>}}

The pairing of Garson with [[Walter Pidgeon]] proved particularly appealing to their fans. They would appear together in a number of pictures, including LeRoy's 1943 biopic of [[Madame Curie]].<ref>Feaster, 2004 TCM: "Garson and Pidgeon were such a successful onscreen couple in Blossoms that they were soon paired in a number of romantic films including the enormously popular ''Mrs. Miniver'' (1942), ''Madame Curie'' (1943) and Mrs. Parkington (1944).</ref><ref>Passafiume, 2007 TCM: "...Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon went on to make [six] more features together; they were teamed on the screen a total of nine times."</ref>

As LeRoy's first color film, ''Blossoms in the Dust'' demonstrates an aesthetically pleasing and an adroit handling of the new [[Technicolor]] technology.<ref>Higham and Greenberg, 1968 p. 91: "...an exquisitely designed production filmed by...[[Karl Freund]]...discreetly directed and bathed in lovely pastel colors..."</ref>

'''[[Random Harvest (film)|''Random Harvest'']]''' (1942): LeRoy and producer [[Sydney Franklin]] paired Garson with fellow Briton [[Ronald Colman]] in a romance that dramatizes clinical amnesia suffered by a WWI combat veteran.<ref>Miller, 2009 TCM: "''Random Harvest'' is often cited as one of Hollywood's all-time greatest tearjerkers. It's also considered the definitive treatment of amnesia in a romantic film."</ref> Garson's genteel and largely desexualized screen image – "M-G-M's First Lady of Saintly Virtue" – favored by [[Louis B. Mayer]], is countered by LeRoy's less inhibited Garson as the "impulsive Scottish lass" Paula.<ref>Canham, 1976 p. 157: "Genteel" and "Saintly Virtue" And p. 181: Garson's "impulsive Scottish lass."</ref>

LeRoy's leisurely narrative pace, the lavishness of the settings, the fulsome musical score and the balanced editing demonstrate his embrace of M-G-M production values and distinguishing the stylish ''Random Harvest'' from his work at Warner Brothers.<ref>Canham, 1976 p. 159-160</ref>

'''[[Madame Curie (film)|''Madame Curie'']]''' (1943): Apropos LeRoy's "lavish and lengthy biography"<ref>Canham, 1976 p. 181</ref> portraying the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry|Nobel prize-winning]] scientist [[Marie Curie]],<ref>Passafiume, 2007 TCM: "Marie Curie was the first woman in France to receive a Ph.D., the first woman ever to receive a Nobel Prize, and the first person ever to receive two Nobel Prizes."</ref> critics Higham and Greenberg make these observations:

{{blockquote |With money rolling in and attendance at all time highs, studios in the Forties could afford to indulge in [[Prestige picture|'prestige productions']] as never before. Lives of the great and famous proved, as always, tempting material: authors, saints, politicians, scientists, inventors and tycoons received solid if none too accurate tributes…<ref>Higham and Greenberg, 1968 p. 117 And p. 172: "Nearly all of Greer Garson's pictures were unbearably glutinous...Madame Curie (1943) a preposterous version of the great scientist's life story..."</ref>}}

LeRoy and producer [[Sidney Franklin (director)|Sydney Franklin]] made a genuine effort to make the "highbrow" subject of the film – the heroic discovery of [[radium]] isotopes – engaging to the public, resorting to romanticizing and simplifying the topic.<ref>Passafiume, 2007 TCM: "The biggest challenge for making a movie of ''Madame Curie'' was in making the unlikely subject of the discovery of radium interesting and entertaining for audiences." And quotes from LeRoy's autobiography. Also: "Franklin very much wanted to keep the events in the film as historically and scientifically accurate as possible...he brought in Dr. Rudolph MeyerLanger, a physicist from [[California Institute of Technology|Cal Tech]], as an official technical advisor.</ref><ref>LeRoy and Kleiner, 1974 p. 151: ""I didn't let a scene go by unless I understood it myself..."</ref>

''Madame Curie'' was one of nine pictures in which Garson was cast with leading man Pidgeon. Married to [[Buddy Fogelson]], Garson earned the title "the daytime Mrs. Pidgeon" on M-G-M sets.<ref>Feaster, 2004 TCM: "Their film match-ups proved so reliable Garson was referred to on the MGM lot as 'the daytime Mrs. Pidgeon.'"</ref><ref>LeRoy and Kleiner, 1974 p. 117: "...Fogelson, Greer Garson's husband..."</ref>

'''''[[Desire Me]]''''' (1946): LeRoy attempted to reshoot an uncompleted [[George Cukor]] project starring Garson and [[Robert Mitchum]], ''Desire Me'', but abandoned the film, disparaging the "rotten script, a script that made absolutely no sense.". Neither Cukor nor LeRoy appeared in the credits.<ref>LeRoy and Kleiner, 1974 p. 196: LeRoy: "...I tried my best to make something out of it, but I failed...It was a botch...It was the only major film ever issued with a director's credet."</ref><ref>Arnold, 2012 TCM: "LeRoy also worked, uncredited, on the Garson film Desire Me, 1947, a film released without any directing credit."</ref>

'''''[[Strange Lady in Town]]''''' (1955): LeRoy's first film after returning to [[Warner Bros.|Warner Brothers]] studios as a director-producer. Garson, passed over by M-G-M to star as opera diva [[Marjorie Lawrence]] in [[Interrupted Melody]] (1955), signed with Warners to make ''Strange Lady in Town'', a western set in [[Santa Fe, New Mexico]] and endowed to Garson's satisfaction "with horses and sunsets." [[Dana Andrews]] co-stars.<ref>Arnold, 2012 TCM: "Garson was crushed...After that, she left the studio [M-G-M] and signed with Warner Bros. in early 1954 to make Strange Lady in Town." And: Garson: "...a richly corny period story which interested me particularly because I've been a carpet actress all my life in Hollywood...I wanted to do an outdoor role, one with horses and sunsets."</ref>