By a curious coincidence, Richard Attenborough and John Schlesinger, later each to become both Oscar- and BAFTA-winners as directors (with multiple Direction BAFTAs in the case of Schlesinger, though both won additionally for producing and, in Attenborough's case, for acting as well), both appear in this film as actors, long before either had directed a major motion picture (Schlesinger had only some very low-budget, independent features and television work to his name at the time, and it would be over a decade before Attenborough directed his first film, Oh! What a Lovely War...for which he would go on to lose the 1970 BAFTA for Best Direction to Schlesinger and Midnight Cowboy). Aside from eventually becoming two of only a handful of Britons to ever win the Best Direction Oscar, they are also the only two such to have had extensive acting careers, and this marked the single occasion in which they appeared in the same film, though both had had previous experience in films made by the Boulting brothers before this one. These two legends of British directing appear in but a single scene together - Schlesinger appears as a solicitor, Attenborough as the barrister he has hi
To aid the air of dishevelment surrounding Alfred Green, Terry-Thomas slept in his costume for a fortnight before filming, and rubbed at the suit-seams with a pumice stone.