This movie was John Garfield's first film and earned him his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He would receive one other Oscar nomination for Best Actor in "Body and Soul" (1947).

John Garfield admitted that he based the way he played his character Mickey Borden on Oscar Levant.

Michael Curtiz found himself in the unenviable position of competing against himself in the Best Director race for the Academy Award, being nominated for both Four Daughters (1938) and Angels with Dirty Faces (1938). The Oscar went to Frank Capra for You Can't Take It with You (1938). Curtiz would go on to win his Oscar for Best Director five years later for Casablanca (1942). This wouldn't happen again until 2000 when Steven Soderbergh was nominated for both Erin Brockovich (2000) and Traffic (2000), winning for the latter.

This was given to studio director Michael Curtiz as a small assignment to tide him over as the bigger profile Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) was coming together. (Curtiz was just coming off the huge success of The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), one of Warner Brothers' biggest hits.) Much to everyone's surprise, Curtiz delivered a film that was critically acclaimed and a big box office success, earning five Academy Award nominations to three for "Angels with Dirty Faces".

Remade as a musical, Young at Heart (1954) with Doris Day and Frank Sinatra.