This film was the subject of inquiry by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in October 1947. Testimony as to the distortions of Soviet life presented in the film was provided by Ayn Rand, screenwriter and author of "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged". Rand was born in Russia, but left in 1926. Rand derided the depictions of Russian peasants who owned radios and had access to long distance telephones as well as showing a 'traditional Russian wedding dance' with peasant women doing the Charleston with spiked heels in church.
This was Robert Taylor's last acting role before he entered military service during World War II.
Robert Taylor publicly stated that his accepting a role in this film was bad judgment (in reality, it was against his nature to balk at any film assignment while at MGM) and that he considered the film "pro-Communist."
Director Gregory Ratoff collapsed on the set on 29 June 1943; Laslo Benedek took over as director for the remainder of the principal photography and for the October 1943 re-takes. It is not known who directed the scenes needed in September 1943.