Directed by Lewis Milestone and set in the South Seas, the production was filmed in part at Santa Catalina Island and what is now Crystal Cove State Park in California.

The film also features Walter Huston in the role of a conflicted missionary who insists that Sadie end her evil ways, but whose own moral standards and self-righteous behavior steadily decay.

When she dismisses his offer, Davidson has the Governor order her deported to San Francisco, California, where she is wanted for an unspecified crime (for which she says she was framed).

During a heated argument with Davidson, she experiences a religious conversion and agrees to return to San Francisco and the jail sentence awaiting her there.

The evening before she is to leave, Sergeant O'Hara asks Sadie to marry him and offers to hide her until the Sydney boat sails, but she refuses.

The unglamorous role for Crawford, and bold story (religious hypocrisy being its main theme), caught Depression-era audiences off guard.

Motion Picture Herald commented,Because the producers have made such a strong attempt to establish the stern impressiveness of the story, it is rather slow.