Members of Merrill's Marauders, who were on location as technical advisers, criticized the fact that Nelson's men killed all the Japanese at the radar station so quickly with none wounded or escaped. That was likely by design because any of the defenders left alive would have to be executed by the special ops troops, something that 1945 audiences would have found objectionable for American troops to do.
This was one of the few movies Errol Flynn starred in that he liked, although he regretted the controversy it caused.
The movie was pulled from release in the UK after just one week. It was banned there after heated protests from British veterans groups and the military establishment. As the Burma campaign was a predominantly British and Australian operation, the picture was taken as a national insult due to the movie's Americanization of the Burma operation. The resentment that many felt was seen as yet another example of Americans believing they had won the war single-handedly. It was not shown in Britain again until 1952, and only with an apologetic disclaimer. Incidentally, writer Lester Cole, who co-wrote the somewhat overly patriotic flag-waving script, would be branded an un-American Communist, becoming one of the Hollywood Ten just a few years later. Cole's screenplay was based on a story by Alvah Bessie, who was also a member of the Hollywood Ten.
Errol Flynn was criticized for playing heroes in World War II movies. Tony Thomas in his book "Errol Flynn: The Spy Who Never Was" states that Flynn had tried to enlist in every branch of any armed services he could, but was rejected as unfit for service on the grounds of his health - he had a heart condition, tuberculosis, malaria and a back problem. Flynn felt he could contribute to America's war effort by appearing in war films, and subsequently made such pictures as Aufstand in Trollness (1943), Blutiger Schnee (1943), Dive Bomber (1941) and Auf Ehrenwort (1944). Reportedly, Flynn was at his most professional and co-operative he ever was while working on these films. The studios apparently were not - all kept quiet about the state of Flynn's health for fear of his box-office draw waning.
The story was partially inspired by "Operation Loincloth," a 1943 long-range operation in Burma by the British Chindits. However, producer Jerry Wald also admitted that much of the screenplay was based on Nordwest-Passage (1940), a film about the adventures of a long-range ranger unit during the pre-Revolutionary French & Indian War.