This was the biggest-grossing film of 1936 in Great Britain.
Alexander Korda signed a three-picture deal with French director René Clair but quickly offended him by living up to his own reputation of interfering with directors and undermining their authority. On this occasion, Korda re-shot some scenes of the transatlantic crossing, which he was unhappy with, and changed the order of some other scenes. The disillusioned Clair nearly took his name off the film, but decided to accept credit which worked to his advantage as he was congratulated on the quality of the film which was a great success both critically and at the box office.
René Clair's first English film was screened during a gala evening attended by Queen Mary.
This film was included in the first syndicated television presentation of a package of major studio feature films on USA television; it premiered in Philadelphia Friday 11 June 1948 on WFIL (Channel 6), followed by Boston Sunday 20 June 1948 on WBZ (Channel 4), by Chicago Monday 28 June 1948 on WGN (Channel 9), by Cleveland Sunday 18 July 1948 on WEWS (Channel 5), by St. Louis Thursday 7 October 1948 on KSD (Channel 5), by New York City Friday 15 October 1948 on WPIX (Channel 11), by Buffalo Monday 22 November 1948 on WBEN (Channel 4), by Baltimore Friday 3 December 1948 on WMAR (Channel 2), by Los Angeles Sunday 9 January 1949 on KTLA (Channel 5), by Atlanta Wednesday 2 February 1949 on WSB (Channel 8), and by Cincinnati Monday 25 April 1949 on freshly launched WKRC (Channel 11). The package consisted of 24 Alexander Korda productions originally released theatrically between 1933 and 1942.
This film has a 100% rating based on 8 critic reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.