"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on
December 6, 1943 with Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon and Henry Wilcoxon reprising their film roles.
"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on December 7, 1942 with Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon reprising their film roles.
Greer Garson's Best Actress acceptance speech lasted an incredible 5 1/2 minutes, making it a Hollywood record.
Winston Churchill once said that this film had done more for the war effort than a flotilla of destroyers.
William Wyler openly admitted that he made the film for propaganda reasons. Wyler - who was born in Germany - strongly believed that the US should join the war against Nazism, and was concerned that America's policy of isolationism would prove damaging, so he made a film that showed ordinary Americans what their British equivalents were undergoing at the time. The film's subsequent success had a profound effect on American sympathy towards the plight of the British.
Richard Ney's film debut.
Jan Struther's book of essays, on which the film is based, was published in 1939. While some of the essays reflect the fear that England might be in a war, only the last essay occurs after war is declared. Some of the book's characters are the same as the movie's, but the events (the book has no plot) are completely different.
After completing the film, William Wyler joined the US Army and was posted to the Signal Corps; he was overseas on the night he won his first Oscar. He later revealed that his subsequent war experiences made him realize that the film actually portrayed war in too soft a light.
After first-choice Norma Shearer rejected the title role (as she refused to play a mother), Greer Garson was cast. Although she didn't want the part either she was contractually bound to take it, and won the Academy Award for her performance.
First movie to receive five acting nominations at the Academy Awards.
The first Academy Award Best Picture nominee to receive nominations in all of the four acting categories.
The Hollywood Reported listed Pat O'Hara, Elspeth Dudgeon, Dennis Chaldecott and Eric Snowden in the cast, but they were not seen in the final print.
The Vicar's final rousing speech was printed in magazines like "Time" and "Look". President Franklin Delano Roosevelt ordered that it be broadcast on the Voice of America, and copies of it were dropped over Europe as propaganda. This speech has come to be known as The Wilcoxon Speech, in tribute to actor Henry Wilcoxon's stirring delivery of it.
The vicar's speech near the end was reportedly re-written by William Wyler and Henry Wilcoxon the night before it was shot. It was translated into various languages and air-dropped in leaflets over German-occupied territory, was broadcast over the Voice of America, and reprinted in Time and Look magazines at Pres. Franklin Delano Roosevelt's request. This speech has come to be known as The Wilcoxon Speech, in tribute to actor Henry Wilcoxon's stirring delivery of it.
When Clem and his boat is requested with other small craft to Ramsgate this is in reference to 'The Little Ships of Dunkirk" that assisted in the evacuation of Dunkirk during the days of May 26 to June 4 1940. One of the boats was piloted by the 2nd Ofcr from the Titanic Charles Lightoller and his son with sea scout Gerald Ashcroft, the last name of the man in the boat with Clem Miniver.