The only feature film appearance for fashion and costume designer Oleg Cassini, who was married to Gene Tierney at the time. They would divorce in 1952. Reportedly, Cassini talked director Otto Preminger into giving him the part.
This is the last in a series of films that Otto Preminger made as a director-for-hire for Twentieth Century Fox in the 1940s. The series includes Laura (1944), which also stars Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews, Fallen Angel (1945) and Whirlpool (1950).
Tommy Scalise (Gary Merrill) was supposed to be a drug addict, but the Production Code prohibited any use or mention of narcotics.
Gary Merrill's character Tommy Scalise frequently uses a nasal inhaler, though showing no obvious signs of congestion. Developed in 1928, Benzedrine brand amphetamine was available without prescription by 1934 as a nasal and bronchial decongestant, but it was also noted for its energizing side effects, and stimulating, performance-enhancing qualities. It didn't require a prescription until being classified a Schedule II controlled substance in 1959, which is how Scalise's use of an amphetamine inhaler ducked the Production Code narcotics taboo of the day.
Not only was the traditional Twentieth Century-Fox fanfare music not utilized at the film's opening, Alfred Newman's ubiquitous "Street Scene Theme" is whistled over the unique opening credits, appropriately written in chalk on a sidewalk.