At 2 minutes and 19 seconds, Hermione Baddeley's performance is the shortest Oscar-nominated performance in movie history.
The honoring of leftist French-Jewish actress Simone Signoret, a self-described Communist "fellow traveler," with an Oscar led veteran right-wing columnist Hedda Hopper to resign from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
This was essentially the first British film to openly depict adultery and suggest that sex was an enjoyable act. Naturally, this landed it in hot water with the censors, who initially refused to give it a release certificate. It eventually acquired an "X" certificate and went on to become a major box-office success, opening the floodgates for more adult fare.
Simone Signoret's Oscar was the first time the award had been bestowed on an actress who had done no work in Hollywood.
There was some opposition to the casting of Laurence Harvey, as he could not do a realistic northern accent. In addition there was some concern that audiences in the UK might not accept the Jewish Harvey as Joe Lampton.