 The crew had some difficulty filming there — they had to avoid shooting at noon because of the harsh shadows, they had trouble receiving permission to shoot inside a Buddhist temple because of the moon's phase, and they inadvertently helped a political protest take place that would otherwise have been shut down by the police, because the authorities assumed it had been staged for the film.Audie Murphy fell ill with appendicitis during a weekend shopping trip to Hong Kong and had to be operated on.Humphrey Bogart was reported to have been considered to play the lead role, but it was first offered to Montgomery Clift, with Laurence Olivier to play "Fowler".