"Screen Director's Playhouse" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on November 16, 1950 with Tallulah Bankhead reprising her film role.
Tallulah Bankhead was cast in the film because Alfred Hitchcock wanted to use "the most oblique, incongruous person imaginable in such a situation". She was Hitchcock's first choice for the role of Constance 'Connie' Porter.
Canada Lee was allowed to write his own lines.
Arthur C. Miller was the initial director of photography but was replaced by Glen MacWilliams after the first two weeks of filming, when Miller became ill.
After she caught pneumonia, Tallulah Bankhead was given a puppy by Alfred Hitchcock for being such a good sport during the film. He had already named the dog Hitchcock.
During filming, several of the crew members noted that actress Tallulah Bankhead was not wearing underwear. When advised of this situation, director Alfred Hitchcock observed, "I don't know if this is a matter for the costume department, makeup, or hairdressing."
During the beginning of filming Mary Anderson asked Hitchcock what he thought "is my best side." Hitchcock dryly responded, "You're sitting on it, my dear."
For the German-dubbed version the challenge was to maintain the tension between the English-speaking majority in the boat vs. Willy and Connie Porter talking German. This problem was "solved" having Willy pretend to be a Dutch volunteer with the Kriegsmarine and shifting the Willy-Porter conversation to the Dutch language.
John Steinbeck wrote the story at Hitchcock's request.
Screenwriter John Steinbeck, a noted liberal, was outraged by what he regarded as director Alfred Hitchcock's racism as manifested in his condescension towards the George 'Joe' Spencer character played by Canada Lee.
Seasickness hit the entire cast at one point or another, and much of the cast caught pneumonia after constant exposure to cold water, Tallulah Bankhead having suffered twice from it. Hume Cronyn almost drowned in a storm scene when he got caught under a large metal water-activator, used for making waves. Joe Peterson, a lifeguard hired especially for the production, saved him in the nick of time. Hume Cronyn also suffered from cracked ribs during the course of filming.
The film was shot entirely on a restricted set in which the boat was secured in a large studio tank. Alfred Hitchcock, always striving for realism, insisted that the boat never remain stationary and that there always be an added touch of ocean mist and fog compounded of oil forced through dry ice.
The harsh conditions of the shoot took its toll: actors were soaked with water and oil, which led to two cases of pneumonia for Tallulah Bankhead, an illness for actress Mary Anderson and two cracked ribs for actor Hume Cronyn, according to his autobiography. Production was temporarily halted twice to allow for recovery of the cast.
This is the only movie Alfred Hitchcock made for Twentieth Century-Fox, under Darryl F. Zanuck at the time. Hitchcock was loan out to Fox while under contract with producer David O. Selznick.
Alfred Hitchcock:
in "before" and "after" pictures in a newspaper advertisement for Reduco Obesity Slayer. The pictures were genuine, as he had just been on a crash diet (although not with the fictional Reduco) from 300 to 200 lbs. However, the so-called "Reduco Obesity Slayer" diet pill or potion ad seemed so real that audience called the studio and wrote letters to Alfred Hitchcock asking where could they get this product. (In Rope, a neon sign advertising "Reduco" with Hitchcock's famous silhouette is seen outside the Manhattan apartment where the film takes place.)
Alfred Hitchcock:
[bathroom]
John Kovac's "BM" tattoo.