Gloria Swanson appears in this film with William Holden. She would appear alongside a different William Holden in 1950's "Sunset Boulevard" for which she would also receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination.
Gloria Swanson originally consulted Edmund Goulding to help her complete La regina Kelly (1929), the unfinished silent epic she'd started with Erich von Stroheim, but he told her it was old-fashioned and to make a talking picture instead. He wrote the script in conjunction with Swanson and Laura Hope Crews in three weeks at Swanson's home. The movie was in theaters by the end of the year and Swanson recouped enough money to pay off Queen Kelly's backers.
Remade in 1937 as That Certain Woman, starring Bette Davis in the Swanson role.
Restored by George Eastman House, this film made its long awaited television debut 14 December 2011 on Turner Classic Movies.
With her second best actress Oscar nomination, Gloria Swanson became the first star to be nominated in two different years, previously nominated for Tristana e la maschera (1928).