Both star Humphrey Bogart (then 56) and director Edward Dmytryk (47) had pretty interesting careers behind them by the time they made The Left Hand Of God together. The previous year the pair had worked together on The Caine Mutiny, which had resulted in a Best Actor Oscar nomination for Bogart and a Directors Guild Award for Dmytryk.

While Bogart had his best-known classics - The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca - behind him, his consistently healthy career had undergone a late bloom in the 1950s, with films such as 1951's The African Queen (for which he won the Best Actor Oscar) and the aforementioned Caine Mutiny. With the latter film, meanwhile, Dmytryk had been able to pull himself out of the controversy that had mired his career since he was blacklisted by HUAC in 1947 as one of the Hollywood Ten. He spent time in prison, but testified again in 1951, an act that adversely affected the lives of several industry colleagues. He never escaped the shadow of this act, but was able to consolidate his position as a Hollywood director again.

Excerpt from Film4 located HERE

Dmytryk (whose wife, onetime MGM contract ingénue Jean Porter, can be seen as Carmody's common-law bride) could see that Bogart was already in physical decline, which he reminisced about in his memoir It's a Hell of a Life but Not a Bad Living. "His chain smoking was really getting him down. Before the start of a scene, he would slip into a paroxysm of coughing that would elicit concern from almost every member of the crew. At one time or another, nearly every one on the set begged him to cut down on his smoking, but Bogey would just shrug his shoulders and light another cigarette." The director also noted how gamely Bogart, who had recently suffered a slipped disc, approached his requisite sequences on horseback.

For the beautiful and emotionally fragile Tierney, The Left Hand of God would be her last lead appearance in a Hollywood film. As she recounted in her autobiography Self-Portrait, finishing the shoot proved a struggle, and it was not lost on Bogart. "He recognized the signs, went to the studio bosses and warned them I was sick and needed help...They suggested Bogart be kind and gentle. He was nothing less. His patience and understanding carried me through the film."

Excerpt from TCM located HERE