Werner Herzog's first feature film.
The screenplay is based on a story by (Ludwig) Achim von Arnim, which he wrote in 1818 and is called "Der tolle Invalide auf dem Fort Ratonneau" (The Mad Invalid at Fort Rattoneau). Until 1997 it was the only story written by Arnim that was previously translated into English.
Kos (and the rest of the Dodecanese) were administered by the Ottoman Empire from 1523 to 1912, by the Kingdom of Italy from 1912 to 1943, by the Italian Social Republic (a puppet-state of Nazi Germany) from 1943 to 1945, and by the Italian Republic from 1945 to 1947. It was ceded to the Kingdom of Greece in 1947, as part of a formal peace treaty between Greece and Italy. The two countries were enemies during World War II.
For the Screenplay Herzog won the Carl Mayer Prize in 1964 against about 480 other competitors. Still he had troubles, to get official funding, because of his young age. In 1967 he finally got a funding of 300.000 DM to finance the film, what according to his statement cost about 400.00 DM. As he wanted to start shooting, the greek military conducted a putsch to take over the greek government. He could get no official permit to shoot the film, so he started filming anyway. He would had even risk prison, to get the movie done.
The island of Kos where the film is set is part of the Dodecanese (Twelve Islands), the easternmost group of islands in the southern part of the Aegean Sea. Kos is the third largest of the islands in this group, following Rhodes and Karpathos.
Werner Herzog: one the soldiers at the beginning of the film that transports Stoszek to the hospital.