Producer Samuel Goldwyn hoped that this film would launch actress Anna Sten as "the next Greta Garbo." In spite of the doubling of the film's budget, however, it was a flop.
The film is based in Zola's novel about the real-life story of Nana Coupeau's rise from streetwalker to high-class prostitute. She had an abusive father and, contrary to the film, she died of smallpox.