Before the successful film adaptation of his novel
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), there were two failed attempts to bring the novel into a feature film. The first one, in 1936, when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer purchased the rights to the novel as a potential starring vehicle for
Jean Harlow and
Clark Gable, but the project fell apart due to the sudden death of Jean Harlow in 1937. The second one, in 1950, when
Charles Chaplin optioned the rights to the novel with
Norman Lloyd as director and planned to cast his son
Sydney Chaplin and newcomer
Marilyn Monroe in the lead roles, but the project fell apart again because Chaplin's re-entry permit was revoked while promoting
Limelight (1952).
