The main manufacturers of cortisone at the time, Merck in the US and Glaxo in the UK, were worried about the impact of this film would have on the public and their willingness to take the drug if prescribed by their physician. However, by the time of this film's release, newer and better formulations of the drug, along with greater knowledge of its uses and limitations had reduced (but not eliminated) the side-effects experienced by Ed in this film.
The researchers at the Mayo Clinic who discovered cortisone and its medical application won the 1950 Nobel Prize for medicine.
Although not physically or psychologically addictive as other drugs, such as opiates, sudden and complete withdrawal of cortisone (and other steroids) can result in severe symptoms up to and including adrenal crisis which can be fatal. After long-term use of cortisone, a gradual tapering down of the dose over a period of weeks or months is necessary to allow the body's adrenal glands to resume their own production of cortisone.
The magazine article upon which this film is based, "Ten Feet Tall", was published in the September 10, 1955 edition of The New Yorker. It is about the actual case history of a Long Island school teacher in 1948 when the drug cortisone was new on the market.
James Mason had, rather to his surprise, been given a very lucrative contract by Twentieth Century Fox which would enable him to produce and direct films as well as acting in them, but, although he appeared in several Fox movies over the next few years, he directed no films under this contract and produced only this film. His friend Nunnally Johnson, who had a Fox contract as producer and director as well as his more usual role of screenwriter, jokingly advised him that, whilst he should announce several projects as producer/director, and perhaps even do some preparation for them, he would be happiest if he did not make the mistake of actually making any of them. Following the tribulations of producing this film, Mason ruefully concluded that Johnson's light-hearted advice had been nothing but the truth.
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