This film is based on a novel written by David Lamson. In 1933, Lamsom was tried and found guilty of murdering his wife. He was sentenced to death, and imprisoned in San Quentin, pending execution. Lamsom always protested his innocence, and believed his wife died accidentally, not at the hand of another person. He was freed after an appeal and two re-trials. He started writing the novel while he was in prison and completed it after his release.
This film's earliest documented telecasts took place in Philadelphia Wednesday 25 July 1956 on WFIL (Channel 6), in Altoona Sunday 5 August 1956 on WFBG (Channel 10), in Los Angeles Saturday 18 August 1956 on KHJ (Channel 9), in Wilkes-Barre Friday 21 September 1956 on WILK (Channel 34), in Fort Worth Sunday 13 October 1956 on WBAP (Channel 5), in New York City Sunday 11 November 1956 on WOR (Channel 9), in Memphis Monday 12 November 1956 on WHBQ (Channel 13), in New Haven Sunday 22 November 1956 on WNHC (Channel 8), and in San Francisco Friday 7 December 1956 on KPIX (Channel 5).
The film also benefits from a strong cast, with Preston Foster at his tough-guy best as the police detective, Ann Dvorak (on loan from Warner Bros.) powerful as the fiancée and John Beal as the sympathetic victim of circumstances. There's also a scene-stealing turn by J. Carrol Naish as an Italian gangster involved in the crime.
We Who Are About to Die (1936) is a American crime drama film directed by Christy Cabanne and starring Preston Foster, Ann Dvorak, and John Beal. It was based on "We Who Are About to Die" by David Lamson (New York, 1936), a book by David Lamson, who was tried four times for murdering his wife before being set free.