 After a smashing success with his directorial debut, "The Maltese Falcon", Huston started to work on the project.The studio had George Raft, Edward G. Robinson, and John Garfield in mind for the three main roles, but then World War II intervened.Vincent Sherman was all set to direct a version of the story during the WWII years until his script fell foul of the 1930 Motion Picture Production Code for being derogatory towards Mexicans.