 Production of the movie actually began in October 1942 with  W.S. Van Dyke (qv) as director and Robert Taylor (I) (qv),  Susan Peters (I) (qv), Spring Byington (qv),  Charley Grapewin (qv), Van Johnson (I) (qv),  Morris Ankrum (qv) and James Craig (I) (qv). The production was  halted and finally shelved when Van Dyke became ill after 4 weeks of  shooting, and when it was revived in 1944, only Ankrum and Craig  remained in the cast, but in different roles.