The picture was shot on location in the Canadian Rockies in Technicolor and CinemaScope and released by 20th Century Fox.
Set in the Northwestern United States in 1875, the film focuses on taciturn widower Matt Calder (RobertMitchum), who has recently been released from prison after serving time for killing one man while defending another. He arrives in a boomtown tent city in search of his nine-year-old son Mark (Tommy Rettig), who was left in the careof dance hall singer Kay (Marilyn Monroe) after the man who brought him there, as Matt had arranged, abandoned him. Matt promises Mark, a virtual stranger to him, the two will enjoy a life of hunting,fishing and farming on their homestead.
Monroe was accompanied by Natasha Lytess, her acting coach, during filming. Preminger clashed with the woman from the very start. She insisted on taking her client aside and giving her direction contrary to thatof Preminger, and she had the actress enunciating each syllable of every word of dialogue with exaggerated emphasis. Preminger called Rubin in Los Angeles and insistedLytess be banned from the set, but when the producer complied with his demand, Monroe called Zanuck directly and asserted she couldn't continue unlessLytess returned. Zanuck commiserated with Preminger but, feeling Monroe was a major box office draw he couldn't afford to upset, he reinstatedLytess. Angered by the decision, Preminger directed his rage at Monroe for the rest of the production.
The film had mixed reviews, but they were mostly positive. It has a 53% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
