The first of two films with this title Joan Crawford appeared in. The second was Possessed (1947), for which she received an Oscar® nomination. This makes Crawford the only star to appear in two completely different films with identical titles.
Possessed (1931) was the third of eight film collaborations between Joan Crawford and Clark Gable. It was their third film together but it was the first time the duo truly clicked with audiences as a screen couple. They also were beginning a torrid love affair that became common knowledge on the MGM lot. In a way, Clarence Brown, the director of Possessed (1931) was partly to blame, according to Joan Crawford (in the biography, Clark Gable by Warren G. Harris): "He sensed the volcanic attraction between his stars and used that for all it was worth...In the picture Clark and I were supposed to be madly in love. When the scenes ended, the emotion didn't." At the time Crawford and Gable were trapped in unhappy marriages. But their magnetic appeal as a screen couple first became apparent in Possessed with its potent blend of politics and sex. When Louis B. Mayer called Clark into his office, he demanded that he end the affair. The actor complied, not wanting to incur Mayer's wrath.
Joan Crawford and her husband Douglas Fairbanks Jr. were constantly being depicted by the press as "Hollywood's most idyllic couple." In reality their relationship was tense and competitive due to career jealousies and Joan's feelings of not being worthy whenever she was in the presence of her in-laws, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks Gable, on the other hand, was married to Maria Franklin Gable, a wealthy Texas socialite who was 17 years his senior with little in common with him. Though Crawford and Gable were more perfectly matched, sharing similar backgrounds where poverty and unstable home lives were a constant for most of their adolescence, they both knew they were too much alike to seriously consider marriage.
Joan Crawford and her husband Douglas Fairbanks Jr. were constantly being depicted by the press as "Hollywood's most idyllic couple." In reality their relationship was tense and competitive due to career jealousies and Joan's feelings of not being worthy whenever she was in the presence of her in-laws, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks Gable, on the other hand, was married to Maria Franklin Gable, a wealthy Texas socialite who was 17 years his senior with little in common with him. Though Crawford and Gable were more perfectly matched, sharing similar backgrounds where poverty and unstable home lives were a constant for most of their adolescence, they both knew they were too much alike to seriously consider marriage.
Modern sources also note that Possessed (1931) was the last film approved by the Hays Office without a complete script submitted prior to production.
The short films Trader Hound (1931) and I Love a Lassie (1931) played before this film in some theaters during its original theatrical run.