Maureen O'Hara O'Hara beat Lauren Bacall to the role as she was busy with other engagements. Though the film was critically acclaimed, Crowther of "The New York Times" felt that the characters of O'Hara and the daughter could have been made "more humorous and spirited than they are". The following year, O'Hara appeared in the CBS television film, "Mrs. Miniver", but despite some critics approving her performance, most thought that the remake was ill-timed and that she could not top Greer Garson's performance in the 1942 Oscar-winning film. In 1961, O'Hara portrayed Kit Tilden in the western "The Deadly Companions", Sam Peckinpah's
History of film "Dumbo" (1941) and "Bambi" (1942). The onset of US involvement in World War II also brought a proliferation of films as both patriotism and propaganda. American propaganda films included "Desperate Journey" (1942), "Mrs. Miniver" (1942), "Forever and a Day" (1943) and "Objective, Burma!" (1945). Notable American films from the war years include the anti-Nazi "Watch on the Rhine" (1943), scripted by Dashiell Hammett; "Shadow of a Doubt" (1943), Hitchcock's direction of a script by Thornton Wilder; the George M. Cohan biopic, "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1942), starring James Cagney, and the immensely popular "Casablanca", with Humphrey Bogart. Bogart would star in