As depicted in the film, many of the old textile mills in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island converted to manufacturing plastics, shoes or metal parts after cheap labor drove the textile industry south.
O Direito de Viver (1951) was shot on location in Portsmouth, NH, near producer Louis De Rochemont's home town. According to a November 1950 New York Times article, five different locations were utilized to create the film's factory, including one in Exeter, NH, another in Dover, NH and the interior of a plastics factory in Boston, MA. Rev. Robert A. Dunn and John Farrell were Portsmouth locals who had acted in Fronteiras Perdidas (1949), a 1949 DeRochemont production.
Murray Hamilton, who portrays Al Webster, the union malcontent in the plastics factory, is also in another movie where plastics is highlighted, A Primeira Noite de um Homem (1967). In that film he is Mr. Robinson.
When Brad first appears, behind him on the wall is a large banner. In real life the banner has a red border, white field and a blue star in the center. Instead of many smaller stars, it appears to have the number 16 on the one star. This indicates the company at one time had 16 employees in the service during WWII.
Producer Louis De Rochemont cast Carleton Carpenter in a supporting role, having given the young actor his original movie debut in Fronteiras Perdidas (1949). As in the previous film, de Rochemont also utilized Carpenter's songwriting talents. Carpenter wrote "Ev'ry Other Day" for the film which both he and Anne Francis sing. The theme of the song can be heard throughout the picture's score.