the working title of this film was "joan of arc" and was the first war-themed film from rko radio pictures. according to pre-production news items in "the hollywood reporter", rko considered charles boyer, robert morley and jean gabin for leads in the film. producer david hempstead wanted julien duvivier to direct the project because gabin and michele morgan had worked with duvivier in europe. lewis milestone was initially assigned to direct the film but resigned over differences with the studio.