Laurence Olivier trained with professional wrestlers for the wrestling scenes, and did his filming during the day while he was playing on stage in "Romeo and Juliet" at night.
The script omitted about one-third of the play, but added nothing on its own.
The play was an adaptation of the 1590 novel "Rosalynde, Euphues' Golden Legacie", by Thomas Lodge, who has been credited with giving William Shakespeare the title for his play.
Elisabeth Bergner played "Rosalind" in Germany, but left in 1933 when Adolf Hitler came to power. She said she would not play the role in English, until she perfected her English accent. However, many reviewers complained that her German accent was still very prominent.