Publicity for this picture stated that it was the first dramatic role in a cinema movie for comedian Dick Van Dyke.
This movie and its source play were based on an actual court case in Isadore, Michigan during the early 20th century in which a priest was suspected of murdering a nun with whom he'd had an affair. However, in real life the priest had an ironclad alibi and searched frantically for the missing nun for years before she was finally found. He was never charged, and eventually the real murderer confessed. The playwright's wife was from Isadore, Michigan and remembered the story differently. The play was written more about the local legend than what actually happened.
Movie posters superimposed over the film's title the word 'Sometimes...' to form the phrase "Sometimes...the Runner Stumbles".