Director Joseph Losey departed the U.S. in the 1950s during the McCarthy era. This was his first European film to be released in his native country with his actual name credited as director, instead of that of a friend or a pseudonym. The screenwriter Ben Barzman was also a Hollywood blacklist victim who had fled to Europe and previously used pseudonyms.
Shot June 25-July 28 1956, copyright 1957. This was the last movie Peter Cushing made before gaining screen stardom in Hammer's Frankensteins Fluch (1957).
The prison gates featured in this movie are HMP Wandsworth in southwest London, Wandsworth, built in 1851 and still in use. It is the U.K.'s largest prison with a capacity of 1,665 prisoners. Wandsworth was the site of 135 executions, the last in September 1961.
An early appearance by Lois Maxwell, who later portrayed Miss Moneypenny in the first fourteen Eon-produced James Bond films (1962-1985)
Dirk Bogarde: as the court reporter at the hearing abolishing capital punishment......Although the actor resembles him, the court reporter is NOT played by Dirk Bogarde; this is evident in particular when he is in profile.