When released in 1939, this film caused strong protests from the French government over the depiction of their penal colony. Not wanting to harm their marketing of other films in France or its colonies, Warner Brothers withdrew this film from overseas distribution until the fall of France the following year in World War 2.
The movie is a spiritual cousin of the contemporaneous "Mad Doctor" pictures Boris Karloff was making for Columbia, in which he generally played a doctor who was condemned for his experiments in trying to cure illnesses or prolong life.
Rolla Gourvitch, who plays the colonel's daughter, appeared in only two films in her brief career, this and The Life of Emile Zola (1937). Oddly, both are about prisoners on Devil's Island.
Several actors hired to perform in the movie were not seen, despite most having character names. These were Lawrence Grant (First Official), Jack Mower (Sergeant), John J. Richardson, Jack Wise (Convict), and Theodore von Eltz (Second Official).
Filmed late June-early August 1938, this was Boris Karloff's first screen role since The Invisible Menace (1938). His next two features were Mr. Wong, Detective (1938) and Son of Frankenstein (1939).