In the book "A Heart at Fire's Center: The Life and Music of Bernard Herrmann," director John Brahm said this about the concerto scene: "For a long time, I had been dissatisfied with the photography of music in films. Musicians themselves are uninteresting; it is what they play that should be photographed. I myself could not read a note of music, but when Herrmann came and saw the finished film he could not believe it. I had photographed his music."
Stephen Sondheim saw the film at the age of sixteen and was so impressed by the score that he learned to play the final concerto music by ear. Later on, the movie would serve as his main inspiration for writing the musical "Sweeney Todd." Stephen wrote Bernard Herrmann a letter in praise of the concerto and received a thank-you note in reply. Sondheim recalls, "I can still play the opening eight bars, since they were glimpsed briefly on Laird Cregar's piano during the course of the film, and I dutifully memorized them by sitting through the picture twice."
In this film, one can hear pieces of themes, cues, and chords familiar from much of Bernard Herrmann's past and future works such The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959), and even some of his uncredited work for CBS heard on shows such as Have Gun - Will Travel (1957). There are also cues by Hermann that he may never have used anywhere else, but which, nonetheless, bear his inimitable style.
Tempers were high on set: Laird Cregar and director John Brahm shared a fraught relationship due to the actor's erratic behaviour (brought about by his diet) and desire - as a talented musician - to perform Bone's pieces himself, whilst producer Robert Bassler was punched by actor George Sanders in a dispute over the film's closing line.
Laird Cregar's last film, posthumously hitting cinemas two months after his death, and sadly the only top billing in his career cut so short.