The film was shot during the autumn and winter of 1956 and the spring of 1957 around Guadix, Granada.
The title is a quote from Shakespeare, as is the line “sorry boys, it’s all Greek to me” spoken by Van Johnson as he flees from Greek police.
Guadix, being a flexible kind of place, was Albania this time, in a story about a mercenary rescuing the imprisoned brother of the inevitably attractive girl.
Many Granada locations were used but the most recognisable landmark was the castle of La Calahorra, perched baronially on its barren hill above the town, seeming to beckon film-makers, and succeeding over the decades.
The castle is the home of the Countess Valone, a typical English-speaking Albanian aristocrat who helps with the escape at the price of being slapped around by Communist policemen.
Sean Connery’s love affair with Spain began long before he became James Bond, or anyone else we’ve heard of. This story of smugglers and political prisoners didn’t exactly promise a brilliant future for our Sean, whose main function is drunken sexual harassment in an epoch when it was still considered reasonable behaviour.