The Motion Picture Production Code in force at the time specified that 11 subjects "shall not appear in pictures produced by the members of this Association" and listed 25 other subjects where "special care be exercised in the manner in which...(they) are treated." These provisions made it impossible to film a literal depiction of the events in the novel. The screenplay removes any depiction of a sexual relationship (which would have been both incest and infidelity) between Monty and his stepdaughter Veda. In the film, Mildred neither discovers them in bed nor injures Veda in any way.