This film was part of the American Film Theatre series, an experiment in marketing films (all based on plays) that would not otherwise have been able to get financing. Instead of being released to the general public, only people who purchased a subscription to the American Film Theatre series could buy tickets to any of its films. (Exceptions were made for movie critics and members of award-granting organizations, such as the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences which awards the Oscars.) As a result, only a small number of people ever saw any of the films in their theatre runs. To enhance the value of the subscriptions, subscribers were guaranteed that the films would never be shown on television and never released to the general public. Legal issues connected with these guarantees kept this film from being available in any form for nearly 3 decades. It was finally released on DVD in 2003. The American Film Theatre experiment was abandoned after 2 years.
