During German occupation, a few animated shorts made with imported Agfacolor stock pioneered subtractive color in the country, but no feature or live action film had yet been shot using this technology.

Producer Paul Dutournier chose to film Pierre Loti's novel Ramuntcho, largely from practical reasons: the story was set in his home region of the Basque Country, and he had already participated in another adaptation of the same novel before the war.

[6] A color photography specialist named Hongrand was brought in from Belgium to assist the French crew, which had no experience with the medium, and a test session was organized between late April and early May in Sare, a location of the previous Ramuntcho adaptation.

Films de France, now steered by Gaby Silvia's businessman husband fr:Paul Annet Badel,[11] had to resort to unusual means to obtain more, such as exchanging it against other stock with the Soviet armed forces, and buying trims sold on the side by G.I.s stationed in the country.

[12] Billed as "The first French color film", The Marriage of Ramuntcho held its premiere gala at the Biarritz Casino on 9 April 1946, and a train car's worth of Parisian critics was convoyed to the Southern city for the occasion.

Five Ocean Film Company, an English sales outfit, commissioned a dubbed version called The Singing Smuggler from Rayant Pictures of Wembley, but faced difficulties selling it due to the poor print they had been provided.

[7][13] The movie was nonetheless purchased for the U.S. by Globe Film Distribution, a recently formed company from the owners of the Irving Place and City Theatres.

[14]: 15 A critic for Parisian cultural weekly Gavroche delivered an encouraging review, conceding that The Marriage of Ramuntcho "should be judged less like a movie and more like an outstanding achievement" as "[c]ompared to America, England, Russia, we only had the good will of a few men" to pioneer color filmmaking.

[3] In a capsule review directed at industry professionals, American trade magazine Variety called the film "sure box office for all Latin countries".

[15] In a consumer study conducted by Gaumont at their Gaumont-Palace location in Paris, patrons named The Marriage of Ramuntcho as their favorite French film of the year, although it lagged behind four American imports.