“My life began with you. I can't imagine a future without you.” — Smithy

This gentle spring blossom to true love is one of the most beautifully rendered romances ever filmed. It is pure and untarnished, a reminder that love begins in the heart, eclipsing all other things, and is all in life that truly matters. Mervyn LeRoy was a fine studio director who made some memorable films, many now considered screen classics. The romanticist fingerprints of Sidney Franklin, however, give strong evidence that as producer, he and LeRoy worked closely to make this film one of the loveliest of any decade. Having directed Smilin’ Through in 1932, starring Norma Shearer and Leslie Howard, he is in fact responsible for two of the most exquisite love stories spanning two decades.

James Hilton’s tale of a shell-shocked WWI veteran unable to remember and the years of ghost-ridden love that follow is touchingly realized by Ronald Colman and Greer Garson. They make a story that spans years so terribly involving that this film becomes a part of the viewer carried in their hearts long after the final credits. The kind of old-fashioned love between Colman and Garson is so rare in our time it has a nostalgic quality, a reminder of how love used to be, and still is, for a lucky few. Colman is magnificent, small gestures and haunted looks capturing the efforts of an anguished man trying to somehow put together the voices and whispers of memories as they drift like snowflakes though his mind and heart, only to have them dissolve into nothingness as he reaches out to catch them.

Greer Garson is remarkable in one of her finest performances. Her devotion and tender caring, trying to hang around just on the chance someone might one day remember her, is so utterly real it tugs at the heartstrings. She is lovely and wistful, alluring and charming, and makes anyone viewing Random Harvest wish for such love and devotion, or be thankful if they are among the rare few who possess something so valuable. A lovely score from Herbert Stothart and the lush photography of Joseph Ruttenberg frame Colman and Garson against a background full of small but perfect details; a romantic refrain or snow falling outside a windowpane during a tender moment making magic in the darknesss. There are great classic films as lovely, many of which I've seen and commented on, but none which surpass this one. It is a long and beautiful love letter to love and devotion.

Hilton’s story, adapted to the screen by Claudine West, George Froeschel and Arthur Wimperis begins in the autumn of 1919 at an asylum with a military wing for shattered minds of the war to end all wars. Colman is the traumatized soldier who barely speaks, an amnesiac longing just to belong to someone, and knowing he doesn't belong there. In the excitement and wild frenzy created by the armistice, he simply walks out one night and escapes. It is in a tobacco shop that he first meets the kind and sweet Paula, who helps him dodge those out to take him back as she falls in love with her Smithy. He also falls in love with the music-hall angel, and when her friends don’t understand, wanting to send him back too, she runs away with her Smithy and they start a new life.

It is a beautiful display of faith and love, her tender devotion healing his broken and lost spirit as they find their own happiness. He begins to write, and proposes once he feels useful again. A key to the cottage where their happiness abounded is the only tangible item connecting him to that world, however, after a car accident causes him to remember who he was, and forget his Paula. Charles Ranier has a good life, but knows something is missing, if only he could remember…

Garson is simply wonderful here, deciding to accept on the chance that even if he doesn’t remember, he will fall in love with her all over again. Young Susan Peters is also enchanting as Kitty, a young woman who adores Charles but begs off their marriage when she realizes he is haunted by a ghost of which she only reminds him. It is tender and touching, and you realize what a great film this is by the emotional depth of it. There are no wasted scenes or feelings in this film; it is all part of a beautiful mosaic to be seen with the eyes but also felt by the heart.

When it becomes too much for Paula to pretend anymore, to hang onto that slender hope, she goes on a long vacation, revisiting the old places where they were once so happy. The ending rewards our hearts with a lasting memory of love shared by all who watch this loveliest of films.

A fabulous supporting cast inculdes Philip Dorn, Henry Travers, Reginald Owen and Una O’Conner. But it is Ronald Colman and Greer Garson who are unforgettable as Smithy and Paula. Truly one of the great films of all time, with a warmth and tenderness rarely captured on film. ( )