 Keeper of the Flame premiered at New York City 's Radio City Music Hall on Thursday , March 18 , 1943 . The premiere served as a fundraiser for the Outdoor Cleanliness Association ( a group dedicated to public lighting and enforcement of trash laws ) . The premiere did not go well : MGM head Louis B. Mayer stormed out , enraged by his having encouraged the making of a film which equated wealth with fascism . It opened in Los Angeles at Grauman 's Chinese Theatre on Thursday , April 1 , 1943 . Keeper of the Flame made its Australian premiere at the Metro Theatre in Melbourne in June 1943 . It didn 't appear on American television until March 1957 . 
