Gene Tierney, because of star status and contractual requirements at 20th Century-Fox, receives top billing over John Hodiak, even though he is the unquestionable star of the film, and her participation is strictly subsidiary; most critics agreed she was miscast as a blonde Italian in what was at best an undeveloped comparatively inconsequential role.
The character of Maj. Joppolo was based on Lt. Col. Frank E. Toscani, senior civil affairs officer of the U.S. Army military government in Licata, Italy.
John Hersey wrote the novel of the same name upon which the film is based. It won the Pulitzer prize for fiction in 1945.
Final film of Henry Armetta. "Colonel Effingham's Raid" (1946), released in February 1946, after his death in October 1945, had been completed a year earlier.