Deemed suitably controversial enough to be banned from both the Venice and Cannes Film Festivals.
For this film adaptation, Alec Guinness repeated his role of the Cardinal which he had played during its theatre run in 1954. Peter Glenville had also directed this stage version.
The setting of the film is deliberately ambiguous. There is no mention of which country or town the film is set in, nor when.
It has been said that playing the Cardinal was a major step toward Alec Guinness converting to Catholicism.
The film was condemned as anti-Catholic in Italy. It was condemned as pro-Communist in Ireland, and as anti-Communist in France.