Directed by Michael Gordon, its screenplay was adapted by Vladimir Pozner from the 1946 Lillian Hellman play of the same name, a prequel to her 1939 drama The Little Foxes The Hubbard family of Bowden, Alabama, is led by its ruthless patriarach, the evil, wealthy, duplicitous Marcus.

His long-suffering wife Lavinia is riddled by Marcus' cold cruelty with physical and mental ailments, patiently waiting for the opportunity to help others and atone for the family crimes through a hospital he promises to build but never will.

Younger son Oscar is a spineless weasel, desperately pursuing cheap, covetous, can-can dancer Laurette Sincee, who merely plays him for what she can get, and resorting to the Klan to vanquish a romantic rival.

When Benjamin finally twists his mother's desperate pleas for her hospital into revealing that his father was a collaborator with the Yankees and conspired with them in the massacre of the townsfolks' sons he has all he needs not merely to wrest everything from Marcus but leave the man broken and humiliated.

Thomas M. Pryor of The New York Times called the film "a compelling entertainment" and added "Vladimir Pozner has preserved the spirit of the play in his screen treatment and Michael Gordon's direction gives a fluency to scenes which might easily have become static due to the profuseness of the dialogue.