Natalie Wood had originally intended to attend the 1956 Academy Awards with Raymond Burr as her date. Warner Brothers, however, felt that Wood's perceived involvement with a much older man appeared unseemly. The studio instead forced her to attend the ceremony with her co-star in this film, Tab Hunter.
Barely two years prior to this, David Janssen was stationed at Fort Ord, where this movie was filmed. During filming, Janssen was recognized by some of the men still there and they were confused to see him in a Captain's uniform.
In the mid-1950s, Warner Brothers pursued a strategy of promoting some of their biggest young stars as believable on-screen couples in multiple films. They followed the model of famous 1930s pairings such as Myrna Loy and William Powell, Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, and Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. Audiences had continued to flock to see those on-screen couples in the many movies they made together. In each case, the studio had cultivated rumors of off-screen romances between the popular couples and had worked to make sure that each pair appeared in public events together and were seen in dates set up by the studio. Warner Brothers tried to emulate this model, including the studio-arranged dates, in order to make Hunter and Wood appear as a believable couple that would capture the public's imagination. The studio had plans for five films to feature the pair, asked Wood and Hunter to give multiple magazine interviews suggesting a real romance, and conspicuously placed the two on dates in high-profile establishments. Despite these machinations, Hunter and Wood never attained the success of the more-recognizable 1930s pairings, and the highly-promoted couple only appeared in two films together, both of which were shot nearly simultaneously and released within two months of one another. In real life, Hunter and Wood were very close friends and got along well. Hunter, however, was a closeted homosexual and Wood was attracted to men older than her co-star. As a result, no romantic relationship ever developed.
Tab Hunter had previously served in the military. He joined the United States Coast Guard when he was only 15 years old.
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