According the memoirs of Soviet dictator Nikita Khrushchev, his predecessor Joseph Stalin loved this film and sympathized with the title character's mischievous nature.
The producers neglected to renew the copyright in 1972 and the film has entered the public domain since.
Charles Laughton had played another historical British sea captain with a villainous reputation: William Bligh in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935).