The first movie to criticize the McCarthy era directly.
The Legion of Decency did not like the movie because of what it considered the film's pro-Communist leanings. Instead of condemning the picture, though, it used a separate classification for it. This had previously been used on Blocus (1938) (a Spanish Civil War film that the League also thought was anti-Catholic and pro-Communist) and Martin Luther (1953) (because the film portrayed the life of the man who split Christianity, and also because the League thought it was full of inaccurate presentations of Church teachings).
Co-star Kim Hunter was on the Hollywood blacklist for a while in the 1950s, which hurt her film career.
Unfortunately, Storm Center (1956) was not well received by either critics or viewers, which Bette Davis believed to be the fault of the film, not the subject matter. She did not agree with the casting of Kevin Coughlin as Freddie, complaining that Daniel Taradash did not direct him well. According to Davis, this resulted in a lack of emotional rapport between her and Coughlin, making it difficult to believe the extent of the little boy's feelings of betrayal. Not all of this can be attributed to Taradash's direction, however. Both Davis and Taradash were shocked at Coughlin's mother, who prepared the little boy for his crying scenes by pinching him till it hurt.
The script was first offered to Stanley Kramer, a producer acclaimed for his films with a social conscience, including Je suis un nègre (1949), Le train sifflera trois fois (1952), and La Chaîne (1958). Kramer offered the role of Alicia Hull to Hollywood legend Mary Pickford, who was looking to make a comeback. However, Pickford was quickly talked out of doing the film by gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, an arch conservative and fervent anti-communist who warned Pickford that the film was pro-Red. Next, the part was offered to Irene Dunne, who also declined. Some claim that big-name stars Barbara Stanwyck and Loretta Young also turned it down because of the content.