The film was begun by Robert Boudrioz and was completed by Jean Durand after a few of the actors fell ill and following financial difficulties.
In this rather loose adaptation of Pierre Benoit's novel, the action has been moved from the 1916 Irish uprising to Mingrelia, a fictitious Eastern Europe island. François Gérard has become professor Gérard's nephew, his namesake, who does not teach at the Collège de France anymore but in Law School. Mr. Terence and Ralph have been merged into a single character. The allusions to World War 1 have been suppressed.