This film did poorly at the box office, resulting in a loss of $243,000 (over $3.45M in 2024) for RKO according to studio records.
At the time, Reno was famous for being the only place in the US where people could get a no-fault divorce before the 1960s. People would move to Reno for six weeks to set up residency, and then get a speedy, no-fault divorce. This set up a thriving economy for boarding houses like Mrs. Kraft's.
According to a contemporary article in The Hollywood Reporter, Tallulah Bankhead was first considered for the role of Helen that went to Claire Trevor. Bankhead was unavailable and Trevor was chosen on the strength of her performance in Adieu ma belle (1944).
Among the cast:
- Phillip Terry was just divorced from Joan Crawford the year before this movie.
- In a rare dramatic role in this movie, Esther Howard was a member of Preston Sturges' comedy repertoire.
- Claire Trevor, originally from Bensonhurst, excelled at film noir and earned her Oscar in such a noir film, Key Largo (1948).
The French film maker Jean-Pierre Melville was influenced by the movie. He borrowed the lost, isolated house settings at night; the same kind of settings used in his movie Le doulos (1962).