In 1942, actor Greer Garson enjoyed a “career year”. Most significantly, she won the Best Actress Oscar for Best Picture winner Mrs. Miniver.

While Miniver stands on top, the same year’s Random Harvest proved no slouch. It also got a Best Picture nomination and six others, though Garson didn’t compete against herself in the Best Actress category.

Due to “shell shock” suffered in World War I combat, an amnesiac just referred to as “John Smith” (Ronald Colman) becomes a patient at an English asylum. When he wanders away from the facility, he meets stage performer Paula Ridgeway (Garson).

“John” and Paula fall in love and start a life together. Even as “John” recovers, though, other pitfalls impact the relationship, especially when he suddenly regains his memory.

When I reviewed Mrs. Miniver, I commented that it surprised me Garson won an Oscar for her performance. I felt that way less due to the quality of her work and more because the role existed as a bland cipher and didn’t require much from the actor.

Since then, I viewed Garson in four additional films, so I got a better picture of her talents. To say the least, she failed to impress me, as I thought Garson delivered lackluster work in all of those.

But hope springs eternal, as the saying goes. I held out optimism that maybe Random Harvest would bring a Garson performance that actually impressed me.

For the most part, this happens with Harvest. While I wouldn’t state that Garson brings a remarkable turn as Paula, she fills out the role’s demands in a positive manner and gives the movie heart.

Colman gets the more challenging character of the two, as “John” and eventually Charles Rainier, his real identity. Colman underplays “John’s” mental incapacity and also allows “John”/Charles to evolve naturally.

While I like the lead performances, the movie’s plot twists kneecap it. What could have been a heartwarming tale of a woman who nurses a wounded soldier back to health eventually revolves around some goofy contrivances.

Harvest rushes through the development of the “John”/Paula relationship in a blur. It tears through these moments on its way to get to its curveballs.

When we “John” regains his memory and returns to his identity as Charles, the flick takes off down an abruptly different path, and not one that satisfies. The exploration of Charles’ “real life” plods and fails to give us much of interest.

All these scenes exist to build Charles’ life away from Paula before the pair inevitably reunite. The film flies through these as well, mainly to give Charles’ “niece” Kitty (Susan Peters) a chance to get old enough for him to marry her.

I put “niece” in quotes because Kitty and Charles share no blood but she grew up with him as an uncle-like figure. When we first meet Kitty, she’s 15 and tells Charles not to marry until she comes of age.

Do I recognize that 1942 audiences would view this spring/autumn romance as less icky than we do today? Yeah, but it still seems creepy and it creates an unnecessary distraction, as there’s no reason the movie couldn’t involve Charles with someone closer to his age.

Honestly, the Kitty/Charles affair exists solely to complicate matters when Paula comes back into the tale. The film does become more intriguing when this occurs, especially because it actually develops her return in a subtle manner.

No spoilers, of course, but Paula’s re-emergence comes as a shock, though in a positive way. I like the low-key re-introduction of the character.

Unfortunately, this impressive moment quickly gets submerged under soppy melodrama. While Harvest occasionally kicks to life, the final result comes with too many ups and downs.

Random Harvest appears in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The transfer worked well, especially given the movie’s age.

Sharpness satisfied overall. Some “glamour shots” of Garson led to a bit of inevitable softness, but the majority of the flick came with appealing definition.

Jagged edges and moiré effects caused no problems. Edge haloes remained absent, and with a layer of fine grain, I suspected no issues with noise reduction.

Black levels seemed nicely deep and dark, and contrast was appropriately displayed. The movie showed a good silvery look, and shadow detail was also concise and developed.

Source flaws failed to become an issue. The transfer eliminated those defects and left this as a clean presentation. I felt very happy with this transfer.

As for the film’s DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack, it replicated the original material with positive quality. Dialogue seemed fine for its era, and was relatively crisp and well-defined with no signs of edginess or problems related to intelligibility.

The movie came with plenty of music, and it was acceptably broad and clear. The material presented little low end but the dynamics were fine for a track of this vintage.

Though effects were similarly dated, they seemed adequately clean and realistic, and no aspects of the mix displayed signs of distortion. Background noise failed to become an issue. All in all, the audio worked fine for its age.

As we shift to extras, we find a January 31, 1944 Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of Random Harvest. It spans 59 minutes, 41 seconds and allows Greer Garson and Ronald Colman to reprise their lead movie roles.

Though this version maintains most of the film’s plot points, it pares them down somewhat and relies on narration to cover various domains. That makes it an interesting curiosity but not an especially good telling of the tale.

Along with the movie’s trailer, we get two vintage shorts. The disc provides Don’t Talk (21:39) and Marines in the Making (9:06).

With Don’t Talk, we get part of the Crime Doesn’t Pay series and watch as it follows the FBI’s pursuit of saboteurs. It exists mainly as WWII-era propaganda but it offers some intrigue as a part of its period.

As for Making, it comes from the “Pete Smith Specialty“ franchise and offers a look at Marines in training. Smith’s reels typically opt for comedy and that becomes less a part of Making than usual.

Nonetheless, Smith’s narration tosses in some cheesy stabs at laughs. Mostly Making exists to convince Americans Marines can handle their WWII assignments. It’s more propaganda, though less interesting than Don’t Talk.

Despite good lead performances, Random Harvest becomes submerged under its contrivances. The movie comes with too many silly twists to consistently click. The Blu-ray offers good picture and audio along with a mix of bonus features. Although some parts of the film work, the overall package doesn’t quite connect.