At 2 minutes, 32 seconds, Hermione Baddeley's performance is the shortest Oscar-nominated performance in movie history.
Before passing the film with an 'X' certificate the BBFC required some dialogue changes. The word "bitch' was changed to 'witch', and 'Don't waste your lust on her' was changed to the tamer 'Don't lust after her'. There were also considerable edits made to the descriptions of Alice's death in the car crash, including mention of her 'crawling about' and being 'scalped'.
Features the first open reference to the sex act in a British film.
First film of Ian Hendry.
Initially no British cinema chains wanted to touch the film as the British Board of Film Classification had given it an X certificate, then usually synonymous with exploitation fare. Eventually the ABC chain took a chance and picked it up for distribution, scoring a huge critical and commercial hit in the process.
Jack Clayton replaced Peter Glenvile.
With her Oscar win, Simone Signoret became the second French actress to win the Academy Award (Claudette Colbert was the first in 1934).