Jean Renoir wrote about his link with the Popular Front movement, during the production of this film (1936-1938): "Il fut un moment où les Français crurent vraiment qu'ils allaient s'aimer les uns les autres. On se sentait porté par une vague de générosité." (Ma Vie et Mes Films, Flammarion, 1975) [For some time the French people did believe that they would love each other. One felt transported by a wave of generosity.]
The opening credits mention that the producers André Zwobada and André Seigneur worked for the left-wing trade union 'Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT)'.
The director felt the scene was not real enough so used real bullets than blanks.
This cause the movie to have more casualties than the actual storming of the bastille.
This film is one of over 200 titles in the list of independent feature films made available for television presentation by Advance Television Pictures announced in Motion Picture Herald 4 April 1942. At this time, television broadcasting was in its infancy, almost totally curtailed by the advent of World War II, and would not continue to develop until 1945-1946. Because of poor documentation (feature films were often not identified by title in conventional sources) no record has yet been found of its initial television broadcast.
There are 360 shots in the decoupage of this over two hour film.