Editing Watch on the Rhine (section)

==Production==
The Lillian Hellman play had enjoyed a respectable run of 378 performances on Broadway.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=1091| title=Watch on the Rhine| publisher=Internet Broadway Database| access-date=2015-08-09}}</ref> Feeling its focus on patriotism would make it an ideal and prestigious propaganda film at the height of World War II,<ref>{{cite book| title=Hal Wallis, Producer to the Stars| first1=Bernard F.| last1=Dick| page=76| publisher=University of Kentucky Press| date=May 21, 2004| isbn=978-0813123172}}</ref> [[Jack L. Warner]] paid $150,000 for the screen rights in 1941.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=AFI{{!}}Catalog|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Film/747-WATCH-ONTHERHINE?sid=8aedbb31-41ac-4cd3-979b-c8bcdd0b6f16&sr=3.3502524&cp=1&pos=7|access-date=2022-02-21|website=catalog.afi.com}}</ref><ref name=TCM>{{cite web| url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/1627/watch-on-the-rhine#notes| title=Watch on the Rhine (1943)| publisher=[[Turner Classic Movies]]| access-date=2023-12-14}}</ref><ref name=Stine>{{cite book| last1=Stine| first1=Whitney| last2=Davis| first2=Bette| title=Mother Goddam: The Story of the Career of Bette Davis| location=New York| publisher=Hawthorn Books| date=May 1, 1974| isbn=978-0801551840| pages=[https://archive.org/details/mothergoddam00whit/page/170 170–172]| url-access=registration| url=https://archive.org/details/mothergoddam00whit/page/170}}</ref><ref name=Higham>{{cite book| last1=Higham| first1=Charles| title=Bette: The Life of Bette Davis| location=New York| publisher=Macmillan Publishing Company| date=October 1, 1981| isbn=978-0025515000| pages=[https://archive.org/details/bettelifeofbette00high/page/164 164–166]| url=https://archive.org/details/bettelifeofbette00high/page/164}}</ref><ref>"Film Rights $ Up and Up; Hollywood Gets Taken But Presitige Pix Pay." Billboard 55:49 (4 December 1943), 4.</ref> The play's producer [[Herman Shumlin]] was hired as director, while many of the actors from the play reprised their role in the film.

Because [[Bette Davis]] was involved with ''[[Now, Voyager]]'', producer [[Hal B. Wallis]] began searching for another actress for the role of Sara Muller while Hellman's lover [[Dashiell Hammett]] began writing the screenplay at their farm in [[Pleasantville, New York]]. [[Irene Dunne]] liked the material but felt the role was too small, and [[Margaret Sullavan]] expressed no interest whatsoever. [[Edna Best]], [[Rosemary DeCamp]], and [[Helen Hayes]] also were considered.

For the role of Kurt Muller, Wallis wanted [[Charles Boyer]]. He, however, felt his French accent was wrong for the character,<ref name=Higham /> so the producer decided to cast [[Paul Lukas]], who had originated the role on Broadway and had been honored by [[The Drama League]] for his performance.<ref name=Stine />

[[Paul Henreid]] later said Jack Warner offered him the lead but turned it down because he did not want to be typecast, and felt that it was based on a "contrived play, in no way up to [[Elmer Rice]]'s ''Flight to the West''. My original contract stipulated that I always get the girl and I used that as an excuse to get out of the movie."<ref>{{cite book|title=Ladies man : an autobiography|url=https://archive.org/details/ladiesmanautobio00henr|url-access=registration|last1=Henreid|first1= Paul|last2= Fast|first2= Julius|year=1984 |publisher=St. Martin's Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/ladiesmanautobio00henr/page/166 166] |isbn=9780312463847}}</ref>

Meanwhile, Hammett was sidelined by an injured back, and by the time he was ready to resume work on the script, Davis was close to completing her work in ''Now, Voyager''. Wallis sent Davis,  a staunch supporter of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and a fierce opponent of the Nazi Party, the screenplay-in-progress, and she immediately accepted the offer.

With Davis cast as Sara, Wallis encouraged Hammett to embellish what essentially was a secondary role to make it worthy of the leading lady's status as a star,<ref name=Higham /> and to open the story by adding scenes outside the Farrelly living room, which had been the sole setting on stage.<ref name=Stine />

The [[Production Code Administration]] was concerned that Kurt Muller escaped prosecution for his murder of Teck de Brancovis, and the [[Motion Picture Production Code|Hays Office]] suggested it be established Kurt was killed by the Nazis at the end of the film in order to show he paid for his crime. Hellman objected,<ref>{{cite web|title=Watch on the Rhine (1943) - Herman Shumlin - film review|url=http://www.filmsdefrance.com/review/watch-on-the-rhine-1943.html|access-date=27 January 2017}}</ref> the studio agreed Kurt had been justified in shooting Teck, and the scene remained.<ref name="TCM" /> In his afterword to the April 25, 2020 airing of ''Watch on the Rhine'' on [[Turner Classic Movies|TCM]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20180317034314/http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/1386700%7C0/Dave-Karger-TCM-Host.html Dave Karger] describes this controversy in more detail. According to Karger's script, [[Joseph Breen|Joe Breen]] demanded a new scene in which Muller suffered the consequences of his actions, but Lukas did not show up for the filming. The censor insisted that Muller could not be allowed to get away with murder, even of a Nazi, so the last scene of the film, between Sara and her son, Joshua, was added. Many months have passed without word from Muller, strongly suggesting that he has been captured and/or killed.

Filming began on June 9, 1942, and did not go smoothly. Beginning only a week after ''Now, Voyager'' had ended production, Davis was working without a substantial vacation and was on edge. As a result, she immediately clashed with Herman Shumlin, who had directed the play but had no experience in film, and she tended to ignore his suggestions.

Her emotional overacting prompted Wallis to send Shumlin numerous memos urging the director to tone down her performance.<ref name=Higham /> Shumlin threatened to quit because he was unhappy with cinematographer [[Merritt B. Gerstad]], who eventually was replaced by [[Hal Mohr]] in order to appease the director.<ref name=Stine /> Meanwhile, Davis also was at odds with [[Lucile Watson]] who was reprising the role of the mother she had portrayed on stage, because Watson was a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] whose political views sharply contrasted with those of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] Davis. She and Lukas, however, got along quite well.<ref name=Higham />

Several exterior scenes shot on location in Washington were cut from the film before its release due to wartime restrictions on the filming of government buildings. Other locations included the [[Warner Bros. Ranch]] in [[Burbank, California|Burbank]], [[Busch Gardens]] in [[Pasadena, California|Pasadena]], [[Union Station (Los Angeles)|Los Angeles Union Station]], and the Graves Mansion in [[San Marino, California]].<ref name=":0" />

When Wallis announced he was giving Davis top billing, she argued it was ridiculous to do so given hers was a supporting role. The studio's publicity department argued it was her name that would attract an audience, and despite her resistance, the film's credits and all promotional materials listed her first.<ref name=Higham />

Davis and Lukas reprised their roles for a radio adaptation that aired in the January 10, 1944 broadcast of ''[[The Screen Guild Theater]]''.