Trivia

During location shooting in San Diego, Robert Stack's wife was about to have their first child. While filming the tense scene where Stack propositions his on-screen wife (played by Dorothy Malone), a plane suddenly flew right by the cameras with letters tailing four feet tall proclaiming IT'S A GIRL! Rock Hudson had arranged to have the hospital call immediately when the news came and hired a stunt pilot to tow the message behind the plane. Stack was deeply moved by Hudson's generosity, saying in his autobiography, "It's a moment I've never forgotten. Anybody who tells me that Rock Hudson isn't a first-class gent had better put up his dukes."

Douglas Sirk reportedly stated in an interview this was the best film he directed.

William Faulkner believed this film to be the best adaptation of his own works.

Rock Hudson insisted that Troy Donahue should be cast in the movie.

The Tarnished Angels (1957) was the second film directed by Douglas Sirk that starred Rock Hudson, Robert Stack and Dorothy Malone, and was the seventh and final film collaboration between Sirk and Hudson for Universal.