The 1953 MGM film is a remake of the 1923 silent film that starred Lon Chaney and made by Metro Pictures (a forerunner of MGM), that is now considered lost; as is the 1928 MGM version, "Across to Singapore", which starred Ramon Novarro. The 1953 version is directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Pandro S. Berman from a screenplay by Harry Brown. The music score is by Miklós Rózsa, the cinematography by George J. Folsey and the art direction is by Randall Duell and Cedric Gibbons.