[2] A priest, Father Michael Keogh, is sent by Rome to Quantana, a remote Mexican town which is under the control of a ruthless bandit, Anacleto Comachi.

John Davis wanted to cast Dirk Bogarde as the archbishop but Annakin felt he was miscast and refused.

[6] When the Rank Organisation insisted that John Mills play the priest, Dirk Bogarde became so incensed that he told director Roy Ward Baker, "I promise you, if Johnny plays the priest I will make life unbearable for everyone concerned".

The film failed at the box office, but has since developed a cult following due to its camp homosexual context and over-the-top performance by Bogarde in black leather trousers.

[7] Even though the story takes place in Mexico, the film was actually made in Alhaurín de la Torre, in Andalusia, Spain.

Mylène Demongeot declared in a 2016 filmed interview in Paris:[8] "I was then shooting Upstairs and Downstairs at Shepperton Studios, the producers came by to offer me the part.

The man whom Dirk Bogarde should be crazy [French: folle pour, tongue-in-cheek term to imply 'go gay for'] about?

"Roy Ward Baker later "Dirk came to me and he said he thought he was going to be the villain he should be all in black, which is reasonable enough" and he had the trousers made in Rome.

"[1] Baker recalls after John Davis came to see the film, "he took me by the arm and he said “well, I don’t quite know what you’ve done, but it’s beautiful and it is, it’s very pretty.