Director Nicholas Ray certainly was impressed with Robert Taylor's commitment. "He worked for me like a true Method actor," said Ray, who remembered Taylor going to an osteologist, poring over X-rays, and asking probing questions so that he would have an understanding of where in his body the pain would be from his character's crippled leg.
This film did well at the box office, earning MGM a profit of $454,000 ($5M in 2024) according to studio records. This film pulled in a higher gross overseas than in the USA and Canada, a rare event for the time.
Lee J. Cobb was accused by the Anti-Communist League in the 1950s, and one of the witness against him was his co-star Robert Taylor.
Robert Taylor really limped during the shooting, which is the reason he uses a prop cane to walk. He broke the heel of his left foot before shooting started, near his swimming pool.
The choreography is not typical of early 1930s American dance, but is more of a postwar modern style.