The movie is based on the 1907 novel of the same name by Elinor Glyn, and the title refers to the length of an affair by the Queen of Sardalia.

As described in a film magazine review,[8] the Queen of Sardalia, in a bad marriage with the brutal King Constantine II, leaves her dissipated husband for a trip to Switzerland.

For a well known scene from the novel involving the Queen and a tiger skin, Glyn's script states that, rather than describing it, she would enact it for director Crosland on the set.

She tells him to sit in a chair and then, shown from Paul's point of view, the Queen spreads herself on the tiger skin, runs her hands through the fur, arches her back, and closes her eyes,[7] signifying her agreement to their affair.

[4] That copy formed the basis of a digital restoration by La Cineteca del Friuli in which missing opening credits and intertitles were re-created.