Mrs. Miniver (character) President Franklin D. Roosevelt credited it for hastening America's involvement in the war. Winston Churchill is said to have claimed that it had done more for the Allied cause than a flotilla of battleships. Churchill is further quoted by Bernard Wasserstein in his book, "Barbarism and Civilization," as saying that the book (and later the film) was worth "six divisions of war effort." In 1942, when the film came out, Roosevelt ordered it rushed to theaters. The film adaptation of "Mrs. Miniver" was produced by MGM in 1942 with Greer Garson in the leading role and William Wyler directing. Under
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941 film) "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" was the last film released before Lombard's death. "To Be or Not to Be" (1942) was her final film, released two months after she died in an aircraft crash while on a War Bond tour. The film is one of the earliest to show a pizzeria and was supposed to contain sounds of a toilet flushing, which was altered to banging pipes for purposes of censorship. "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" was a hit and made a profit of $750,000. The review in "The New York Times" described the film thus: "Despite the performances, despite the endless