Joe Sawyer's character of washed-up baseball player Babe Dooley was based on Chicago Cubs hitting great Hack Wilson whose alcoholism led to his steep professional and personal decline.
Harold Clurman, a noted stage director from New York's Group Theatre, made his screen directing debut and sole feature film with this production. It was the only film that Clurman and his frequent theatrical collaborator, Clifford Odets, made together. A June 1944 HR news item noted that Clurman worked on the film's script with Odets.
Edna's apartment is depicted as being across the street from the 17th Precinct, which is on East 51st Street, on the east side of midtown Manhattan.
Deadline at Dawn was the first film that Susan Hayward made following the birth of her twin sons on February 19, 1945. Production on this film started about three months later. This was her last picture for Paramount, where she was utterly miserable, and Universal quickly signed her to a more lucrative contract. Soon thereafter, her career skyrocketed.
The film's first shot is a closeup of Lola Lane's face as she's sleeping, and a fly lands briefly on her cheek. It crawls around for a moment, takes off, and then lands again. A close examination of the scene reveals that the fly is a special effect, matted into the shot. At first the audience wonders if Lane is dead, but a knock at the door awakens her. However, she is found dead a short while later, and the fly may have been intended as foreshadowing.
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