To Have and Have Not (film) between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall on screen. Bogart and Bacall began an off-screen relationship during production and married in 1945, after the film's release. "To Have and Have Not" was one of the top thirty grossing films in 1944 and it received an award from the National Board of Review. In the summer of 1940, world-weary Harry Morgan (Humphrey Bogart) operates a small fishing-boat, the "Queen Conch", in Fort-de-France, on the French colony of Martinique. It is not long since the fall of France and the island is controlled by pro-German Vichy France. Harry makes a modest living chartering
Joan Leslie as Betsy Phillips. She was chosen for the part because the director was searching for an actress with a southern accent. She was billed as "Joan Brodel". Later that year, she co-starred with Jimmy Lydon in "Two Thoroughbreds", in which she played the daughter of a horse owner. At age 15, Leslie was selected by a group of Hollywood directors as one of 13 "baby stars of 1940." Her big break came when she signed a contract with Warner Bros. in 1941. At the time, actress Joan Blondell's name was considered too similar, and so Brodel's acting name was changed