In the 1940s, the Oscars were as big as they are today, and they didn’t stop during World War II. Instead, many of the movies tackled social change and war themes. Here are a few of the war-time movie winners!
1942 – How Green Was My Valley – In this 1941 film starring Roddy McDowall, Maureen O’Hare, and Walter Pidgeon, a Welsh coal-mining family deals with the changing world around them when a miner’s strike divides the family.
1943 – Mrs. Miniver – In this 1942 film starring Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, and Teresa Wright, an English family struggles to survive the first months of World War II with a son fighting in the war, an unexpected meeting with a German soldier who parachutes down near their house, and a father who is participating in the Dunkirk evacuation.
1944 – Casablanca – In this 1943 film starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid, an American expatriate must choose between the love of a woman and helping her Czech Resistance leader husband escape the Vichy-controlled French Moroccan city of Casablanca to continue his fight against the Nazis.
Go back in time with these war-time favorites during this year’s Oscar season!
“They found their seats just as the lights went out. The large screen flickered twice and then gave way to its black and white feature. The zealously patriotic Jean Renoir film starring Maureen O’Hara and Charles Laughton entertained them with a story of betrayal and love and strengthened everyone’s rancor for the Germans.”
Songbird, Chapter 10
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