Directed by William Wellman, the picture was shot by Warner Brothers Studios in black and white, to match wartime stock footage included in the production.

He and Master Sergeant Saul Rosen, who narrates the film, recruit a variety of men who train under veteran Commando units in Dundee, Scotland.

Lt. Dittmann is humanized not by the fighting or his grizzled veterans, but by an encounter with the beautiful and strong willed Angelina De Lotta.

As Darby walks alone down the beach to board a landing craft he perfunctorily waves his arm at salutes from newly arrived troops.

When a soldier excitedly calls out, “Look at that Ranger patch!” Darby straightens up and snaps off his salutes with pride, and continues to do so until the boarding ramp is lifted.

Warner Brothers had produced a financial and critical hit in 1955’s Battle Cry, and was anxious to repeat the success with a film based on Major James Altieri's novel "Darby's Rangers".

He agreed to the film on the condition that Warner Brothers finance his dream project, Lafayette Escadrille, about his experience as a pilot in the famed World War I French Foreign Legion air squadron.

While the Army had as well, it was not so keen on this project, reflecting its feeling that Ranger operations had led to heavy losses of excellent soldiers it thought would have been better employed leading regular infantry units.

[8]) Warner looked to his studio's contracted actors and chose thirty-year-old Korean War veteran James Garner, already slated to appear in a featured part.

[citation needed] Garner later wrote in his memoirs that he did not feel Wellman "wanted me in the part... and I don't blame him: I was too young for it and he deserved a bigger star.

[citation needed] In his February 13, 1958 review in The New York Times, Bosley Crowther wryly observed that viewers “ might gather… that the major interest and pursuit of the special combat force of American soldiers that bore that tag in World War II was chasing after women.

The adventures presented in this war film constitute a recruiting officer's dream.” Crowther added that James Garner's fans “should be completely satisfied….

He's the man who directed much better the memorable Battleground.”[11] Writing for the Sarasota Herald Tribune on June 11, 2011, Christopher Lloyd offered an alternative title for the “alleged war film..