Background to Danger (1943)

Interesting facts

Background to Danger is a 1943 World War II spy thriller film directed by Raoul Walsh. It stars George Raft with Brenda Marshall, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre.

Production

The film was based on the 1937 novel Uncommon Danger by Eric Ambler. It was published in the US under the title Background to Danger.

Film rights were bought by Warner Bros. The film was going to star Jeffrey Lynn then he was withdrawn and replaced by Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman. Lewis Seiler then Jo Graham was assigned to direct. Philip MacDonald was assigned to write the script.

In June 1942, the film became a star vehicle for George Raft. It was Raft's first film for Warners since Manpower. He had turned down a number of movies at the studio including The Maltese Falcon and All Through the Night. Raft insisted on the script being changed so that his character was an undercover American agent instead of an ordinary man. This was common behavior from Raft at the time.

Writer W.R. Burnett, who had also written Scarface said "I was always afraid that I'd have to face Eric Ambler after what we did to that. The point of Background to Danger was that this man was a salesman and suddenly things begin to happen to him that he can't understand. And he gets involved in all this espionage. But Raft wouldn't do it unless he was an FBI man. The whole story went out the window...

John Collier was brought in to work on the script.

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