In a scene where 50 young boys were to wear Nazi uniforms, eight of them walked off the set.
When the film played in Mexico City in December of 1940, eight theaters were disrupted by Nazi sympathizers, who used tear gas and stench bombs.
To promote the film at the Paramount Theater in Des Moines, Iowa, Manager Eddie Dunn hired two men to dress as Nazi storm troopers and stroll around the town as if they were sightseers. Later, the same two men stood in front of the theater holding a sign saying that the theater was unfair to Storm Troopers, Bund No. 623.
At the beginning of the film, Dr. Gerhardt mentions the Hoffmans will be sailing from Pier 86 on the S.S. Breman. Pier 86 in Manhattan on the Hudson River has been the home of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum since 1982. The S.S. Braman's maiden voyage was in 1929 and she set the transatlantic crossing records in both directions. She and her sister ship, the S.S. Europa, were the most technologically advanced ocean liners of their time. During WWII the Breman was outfitted as a troopship for the invasion of England, but mainly served as a barracks ship at Bremerhaven, Germany. There, in March 1941 she was destroyed by a fire set by a disgruntled crew-member. She was scrapped to the waterline in 1942, towed away to Nordenham, and finally sunk by explosives in 1946.
The Utah Theatre in Salt Lake City, Utah, ran a gag ad addressed to Salt Lake City Bund Members, stating they would like to rent a few Nazi Storm Trooper uniforms to be used in advertising the film.