Paul Robeson performs a scene from Louis Gruenberg's operatic version of "The Emperor Jones". He earlier had starred in Eugene O'Neill's original play on Broadway (1923) and in the film version The Emperor Jones (1933).
Although this was the third film made by Hammer Film Productions, it is the earliest to survive in its entirety, as no copies of The Public Life of Henry the Ninth (1935) are known to exist and 18 minutes of The Mystery of the Mary Celeste (1935) are missing.
The film takes place in 1700, 1750, 1800, 1838, and 1936.
This film was first telecast on New York City's pioneer television station W2XBS 17 July 1940.