A Haunting Blogathon: In the Afterlife–Random Harvest (1942)

For the Classic Movie Blog Association’s Annual Fall Blogathon, this year’s theme is the afterlife. However, the definition is expanded beyond the supernatural and instead also includes the idea of someone being haunted by something–whether it is past trauma, unattainable love, abandonment, obsession, or even the pursuit of a goal seemingly out of reach. Random Harvest (1942) starring Greer Garson and Ronald Colman definitely fits within the confines of this motif.

Random Harvest is a story of a woman, Margaret Hanson (Garson) who is desperate to regain the love and life she lost. The film starts with a man, a patient, casually walking away from the asylum where he’s been convalescing since the end of World War I. During the war, the man was gassed in the trenches and as a result has amnesia. After walking away from the asylum, the man ends up in the small town of Melbridge.

While walking to work, Margaret comes across the strange man meandering through the streets of Melbridge. Figuring out that he is from the nearby asylum, Margaret invites the man to come with her to the theatre where she works. It is here where we see Margaret (stage name Paula Ridgeway) perform a delightful number, “She’s Ma Daisy” while showing off her great legs! Later that evening, the man is spooked after an incident brings unwanted attention to him. Wanting to help, Margaret brings him to an inn out in the country to rest. They end up falling in love and marrying. They rent a small cottage and have a son together.

Margaret ends up nicknaming the man “Smithy.” While settled into his new life with Margaret, Smithy discovers that he has literary talent and seeks to obtain work at a newspaper. While in Liverpool for a job interview, Smithy is hit by a car. The impact from the car causes him to regain his memory, but lose memory of his life with Margaret and their son. Smithy, now going by his real name of Charles Rainier, returns to his previous life as a wealthy businessman. He has no memory of the previous three years of his life. The only remaining souvenir of his past life with Margaret is the key to their cottage. However, Charles no longer remembers what the key unlocks. The image of him looking at the key will be a reoccurring motif throughout the remainder of the film.

This leads to the most heartbreaking part of the film where Margaret desperately looks for her missing husband. She spends months trying to find him until one day, she sees his picture in the newspaper under his real name. Margaret also learns that Charles is looking for a secretary and applies for and gets the job as his executive assistant. Every day Margaret gets to see Charles, but he has no idea of their previous life. Making matters worse is when he becomes romantically involved with (and later engaged to) a young woman named Kitty (Susan Peters).

Then, if having to watch the love of your life romance another woman while not remembering you isn’t enough, Charles proposes a business marriage or a “merger” after being elected to Parliament. Charles admires and appreciates Margaret’s efficiency and the value that she brings to his work. He wants to translate that to his career as a member of Parliament. Charles makes it very clear that this marriage is a business proposition–not romantic. He promises that he won’t develop any emotional attachment. Oof. Margaret makes the heartbreaking decision to accept his proposal, figuring that being in a platonic marriage with Charles is better than no marriage at all.

To his credit, Charles knows that he’s missing something. There are three years of his life that he cannot remember. Throughout the second half of the film, he comes across small trinkets from his previous life with Margaret. Through happenstance, Charles ends up in Melbridge again where he first met Margaret. As he walks through town, his memories start to unlock and he starts to remember pieces of his life with Margaret. His memories bring him back to the inn and then the cottage where he is reunited with Margaret–his true love.

Random Harvest is absolutely heartbreaking while also being incredibly romantic. Both Margaret and Charles are haunted by what they’ve lost: Margaret lost her husband and true love, Charles. Charles has lost memories of his entire life with Margaret. He spends the film haunted by the knowledge that he missed the last three years of his life. Seeing Margaret starts to rekindle things in his memory. While it might be unconscious on his part, it is apparent that there’s something about Margaret that reminds Charles of his lost three years. When Kitty plays the hymn she wants played at her and Charles’ wedding, he is reminded of his previous life. While he cannot articulate it, his reaction informs Kitty that Charles is in love with someone else. The most tragic part of this entire film is when Margaret agrees to marry Charles for business purposes. Here she is living out the dream she had for her and Charles, albeit in a superficial and platonic way. One’s heart aches for Margaret as she has to put on a facade of being the perfect wife and hostess. Charles just thinks his secretary is so adept and perfect for the job of “his wife.” Margaret wants to be these things too but as a reflection of her love for her husband. When Charles finally sees and remembers Margaret at their old cottage, it is almost overwhelming. Finally, Margaret can stop suffering.