Directed by Joseph Pevney, the film's cast includes Cagney, Dorothy Malone, Jane Greer and Jim Backus.

Chaney's son is played by Roger Smith, later the star of the television series 77 Sunset Strip, and Irving Thalberg is portrayed by Robert Evans, who soon left acting and eventually became the head of Paramount Pictures.

Lon is happy and tells Cleva that he has been hired by the famous comedy team of Kolb and Dill for an upcoming show.

When Cleva hears the news, she screams and Bill, a wealthy patron whom she has been dating, enters the dressing room.

Lon punches the attacker and sees that the man, who has two wooden legs, is Carl Hastings, Hazel's former husband, who is consumed with bitterness as the result of his accident.

Days later, while Lon is performing, Cleva walks on stage in a deranged state and swallows a bottle of acid, permanently damaging her vocal cords.

The state takes custody of Creighton as they deem his home situation to be unsuitable, causing Lon to react angrily.

Creighton leaves with the box, ready to begin his film career as Lon Chaney Jr. Creative license was employed in the writing of the screenplay, and many incidents were sanitized and fictionalized.

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther described the scenes depicting the early days at Universal Pictures as "immensely flavorsome and exciting" and strongly praised James Cagney's performance:With not too much help from the screenplay, Mr. Cagney none the less gives a stirring sense of the actor's devotion to his first wife, to his infant son, to his aging parents and to his profession, which he pursues through a hard career in vaudeville to eventual stardom in Hollywood.

[4]At review-aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an aggregate score of 89% based on nine critical reviews, eight positive and one negative.