 In Frances Marions original script, the character played by Leila  Hyams was Robert Montgomerys wife. After the film flopped in a  preview screening, MGM studio head Irving Thalberg decided the  problem was that audiences, especially women, didnt want to see the  Chester Morris character have an affair with a married woman. So the  script was rewritten to make Montgomery and Hyams brother and  sister, retakes were made and the film in altered form was a major  hit.