Though it received no official Oscar nominations, the Academy permitted write-in candidates this year and when the voting order was announced it turned out that Paul Muni had come in second in the balloting, narrowly behind winner Victor McLaglen but ahead of any of the other nominated actors.
Michael A. Musmanno's story, "Jan Volkanik", may have been unpublished when this film was released, but it was published as a novel in 1966 with the title "Black Fury". Harry R. Irving's play, "Bohunk" was unproduced and possibly unpublished.
Production title "Black Hell".
Charles C. Wilson is credited in studio records for the role of "Welch", but that role was played by Willard Robertson. Also, Harry Tyler in the role of "Johnny" was not seen in the print.
When miner John Barkoski was beaten to death in Imperial, Pennsylvania in 1929 by the Coal and Iron Police during a strike, Pennsylvania legislator Michael A. Musmanno introduced a bill to outlaw this private police force. The bill was vetoed by the Pennsylvania governor, and Musmanno consequently resigned from the legislature. He wrote a short story about the case titled "Jan Volkanik." The story was not accepted for publication. But Musmanno's met the actor Paul Muni when Muni was performing in the play "Counselor at Law" in Pittsburgh. After Musmanno told Muni about Barkoski, he and the actor developed material, that, when combined by screenwriters Abem Finkel and Carl Erickson with Henry R. Irving's unproduced play "Bohunk," which was also about coal miners, became the film "Black Fury" (1935) starring Muni.
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