The first scene that William Wyler filmed was the famous opening shot in which Leslie shoots Geoffrey Hammond.
This sequence, which lasted two minutes on screen, took an entire day to film, and that was before even a single word of dialogue was spoken. The studio expected him to shoot at a rate of 3-4 script pages a day, but the opening shot reflected a mere paragraph on page one.
According to Bette Davis, actor James Stephenson often would get into fights with William Wyler during filming and walk off the set out of frustration. She recalled: "Every time Jimmy would leave, I would run after him and make him come back, saying, 'It will be worth it, Jimmy - don't go. You will give the great performance of your career under Wyler's direction.'" Each time, Stephenson would return to work, and shooting would resume.
Jack L. Warner originally asked William Wyler to test James Stephenson for the role of the lawyer. Wyler was surprised at how suited Stephenson was for the part and then was astonished when Warner balked at casting him, worrying about the stock player's lack of name recognition. Wyler insisted on keeping him, putting him in the odd position of having to fight to cast an actor that Warner had originally suggested.
In filming the opening murder scene, actor David Newell had to roll down the stairs eight times after being shot, before director William Wyler was satisfied.
Bette Davis called the film "A magnificent picture", largely due to William Wyler's direction. She considered the opening scene to be one of the finest she'd seen.