Actor/director José Ferrer's brother-in-law and actor/television personality Nick Clooney, the father of George Clooney, appears in a parking lot scene where he greets Ferrer in passing. Singer Rosemary Clooney, his sister, was at the time married to Ferrer.
The opening credits read: 'Introducing' Gena Rowlands. This film marked her feature film debut. Then a 24-year-old leading lady fresh from Broadway, she had just enjoyed great stage success in The Middle of the Night - although her role in the 1959 film version of that Paddy Chayefsky drama went to Kim Novak. She did not make another feature film until Lonely Are the Brave in 1962. Rowlands' film breakthrough as an outstanding dramatic actress came a decade later in Faces (1968), directed by her husband, John Cassavetes. Under his guidance, she won two Oscar® nominations, for A Woman Under the Influence (1974) and Gloria (1980), plus a Berlin Film Festival Best Actress award for Opening Night (1978).
This film has a high number of supporting players who would go on to much greater fame in television shows in the next ten years or so: Jim Backus in Gilligan's Island (1964), Bobby Troup in Emergency! (1972), Edward Platt in Get Smart (1965), Werner Klemperer in Hogan's Heroes (1965), Richard Deacon in The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961) and Nancy Kulp in The Beverly Hillbillies (1962) for example.
Werner Klemperer played Joseph Jessup, better known as bumbling Nazi Col. Klink in Hogan's Heroes TV series, and also played a Nazi judge in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). But he was, in fact, a Jew who fled Germany in the 1930s and served in the U.S. Army during World War II fighting Nazi Germany.
Werner Klemperer played Joseph Jessup, better known as bumbling Nazi Col. Klink in Hogan's Heroes TV series, and also played a Nazi judge in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). But he was, in fact, a Jew who fled Germany in the 1930s and served in the U.S. Army during World War II fighting Nazi Germany.
This film failed at the box office resulting in a loss to MGM of $350,000 (about $3.7M in 2023) according to studio records. It did not even make back its negative cost, let alone advertising, duplicating and distribution costs.
Jose Ferrer agreed to write and direct. It was the feature film debut of Gena Rowlands, who had been a Broadway success in Middle of the Night. She signed a contract with MGM to make two films a year over five years and was cast in the film in August 1957.
