Oscar Movies: White Cliffs of Dover (1944): Lavish, Sentimental MGM War Melodrama Starring Irene Dunne

MGM’s wartime melodrama was one of the ten the most commercially popular films of 1944, largely due to its timely subject matter and patriotic-sentimental tone.

Based on a poem by Alice Duer Miller, the story chronicles the trials and tribulations of one courageous woman as she lives through two major wars.

Multiple Oscar nominee (but never winner) Irene Dunne plays Susan Ashwood, an American woman who falls in love with a titled Brit, Sir John Ashwood (Alan Marshal). After marrying him, she goes to love with his aristocratic family, headed by his strong mother (Gladys Cooper).

At the end of WW1, in 1918, when John is killed in the battlefield, the distraught but loyal wife vows to pull herself together for the sake of their boy.

Played by Roddy McDowall in his early scenes, Susan’s son grows up to be Peter Lawford. At the outbreak of WWII, Irene despairs at the thought of losing another loved one, but Lawford convinces her that his father would have wanted him to be patriotic.

While working as a Red Cross volunteer, the mother is forced to tend her own mortally wounded son. Unable to save his life, she is grief-stricken, but is gratified with the notion that both her husband and her son have died as heroes.

The film is expertly directed by Clarence Brown from a screenplay by Claudine West, Jan Lustig and George Froeschel.  West and Froeschell had won the writing Oscar two years earlier for Mrs. Miniver, which may explain the similar ideas in both films.

The secondary cast of this prestige production includes Frank Morgan as Irene Dunne’s father, May Whitty as a nanny, June Lockhart as the grown girl (played by Liz Taylor as a young one), C.Aubrey Smith, Van Johnson, and Jill Esmond.

There is one particularly touching scene between child actors and later friends, Roddy McDowall and Elizabeth Taylor, who plays the neighboring girl in love with McDowall.

Like many films of its era, White Cliffs of Dover struck a responsive chord with filmgoers, grossing over $4 million at the box-office.  Clearly, this was MGM’s flag-waving picture, trying to reprise the success of the 1942 Oscar winning Mrs. Miniver.

Oscar Nominations: 1

Cinematography (b/w): George Folsey

Oscar Awards: None

Oscar Context:

The Oscar winner was Joseph LaShelle for Laura.


Running time: 126 Minutes