It is truly amazing that out of 110 Rotten Tomato reviews over a period of 78 years, there was actually one rotten review! It was authored by Otis Ferguson on September 24, 1939 for The New Republic, "a liberal American magazine of commentary on politics and the arts published since 1914, with influence on American political and cultural thinking." (Wikipedia) So in 1939, this country was desperately in need of a fantasy that would take audiences out of time and space, even if it was only for an hour and forty-one minutes, because all hell had just broken loose. The Germans invaded Poland on September 1st, 1939 after signing a nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union on August 23, 1939. On September 3rd, 1939, Britain, France, India, Australia and new Zealand declared war on Germany, initiating World War II. Things would only get worse from there, including New Republic editor Michael Whitney Straight (1948 to 1956) who was a spy for the KGB, recruited into the same network as Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, Kim Philby, and Anthony Blunt.