Unavailable for viewing for several decades due to disparate royalty and rights disputes, the film was finally made available in 2005 through the estate of John Wayne. Extensive restoration, including the recovery of a reportedly lost reel, was required before the film was realized in its current pristine condition for home video and television broadcast.
Widely considered to be one of the best performances of John Wayne's career, and largely accidental at that: Wayne stepped into the part of Dan Roman at the eleventh hour, following Spencer Tracy's last-minute exit, merely to save the project (which Wayne himself was financing) from going over budget. The character of Roman - stricken, vulnerable and utterly unheroic - was the antithesis of Wayne's omnipotent screen persona, which forced him to play considerably outside his normal range. The result was a heartrending, unexpectedly touching portrayal.
Ernest Gann's novel clearly indicates that the character of Sally McKee has resorted to prostitution in order to survive. The film version, made at the height of Hollywood censorship, was unable to explicitly state this; however, Gann slyly managed to insinuate the information during Sally's entrance, wherein two sailors at the Honolulu airport recognize her and pointedly remark, "Hey, look! Remember?"
John Wayne's role is largely unscripted. Especially in the first half of the film, nearly all of his performance is conveyed through facial expression.
Robert Stack bombarded director William A. Wellman with unrelenting lobbying for the part of John Sullivan, and an interview with Wellman ultimately clinched the deal. However, John Wayne had envisioned real-life flyer Robert Cummings for the role, and Stack later reported that Wellman said he planned to override his producer and insist upon Stack for the part, warning Stack that "if you screw up, John Wayne is going to strangle the both of us." Decades after the fact, Stack would lampoon his stoic character in the classic disaster film spoof, Airplane! (1980).