 When producer Samuel Goldwyn (qv) visited the huge set constructed  for the film (a very detailed depiction of a New York City slum) he  shouted, "Why do directors always want these slums to be so dirty?  Clean it up!" He was eventually persuaded by director  William Wyler (qv) that very few people lived in clean slums and  that it would hurt the pictures credibility if a slum were depicted  as a nice place to live.