The scene where
Paul Picerni is rescued from the guillotine by
Frank Lovejoy seconds before the blade came down was filmed in one take, using a real guillotine blade. Picerni and director
André De Toth got into a heated argument when Picerni, on advice from the film's stuntmen, refused to do the scene as too dangerous (a prop man was to hold up the blade off camera and tell the actors when he dropped it so they could yank Picerni away). De Toth threw him off the picture, but several days later, on orders from studio head
Jack L. Warner, De Toth recalled him, and had the prop department modify the guillotine to make it less dangerous. After examining the guillotine, Picerni said he would do one take and no more, which is exactly what happened.
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