In a scene at Butch's bar, Homer asks Butch if he would play a song for him. "How about 'Lazy River?'" Homer asks. "Remember that?" Hoagy Carmichael, who plays Butch, composed "Lazy River."
In order to give the film a documentary-style realism, the director drew each member of the crew - props, grips, mixers, etc. - from the ranks of WWII veterans.
One of the very first films to be selected by the Library of Congress to go into their newly created National Film Registry in 1989.
The character played by Ray Teal (the actor that Harold Russell attacks at the soda fountain) is listed in the credits as "Mr. Mollett". However, the character's name is never mentioned or otherwise alluded to. It may be that Mr. Mollett is named in the book on which the film was based, "Glory for Me," by MacKinlay Kantor.
The first movie recorded in Stereo using the Westrex Recording system. The Stereophonic version exists in the form of studio acetate masters but was never married to the picture. Only a handful of theaters were equipped for multi-channel sound at the time of its original release.
The novel "Glory for Me" by MacKinlay Kantor, upon which Robert E. Sherwood based his screenplay, is written in blank verse.
This is the first film role for which Cathy O'Donnell, in the role of Wilma Cameron, receives screen credit. Her film debut was in Wonder Man as an uncredited extra in a nightclub scene.
This was the first time Myrna Loy had worked with William Wyler and she was wary of his reputation as "90-Take Willy". As it turned out, the two got along very well.
To avoid awkwardness when he first met his fellow cast members, Harold Russell made a point of reaching out with his hooks and taking their hands, thus putting them at ease with his disability.
Winner of the very first BAFTA Award (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) for Best Film after the event was established in 1948.
Writer Robert E. Sherwood had been the head of the Office of War Information during the Second World War, one of the reasons why Samuel Goldwyn approached him to write the script.