In March 1943, producer
Harry Sherman announced he had purchased an original screen story,
Crocus Hill by
Eleanore Griffin, about a ten-year-old Irish girl in 1860s San Francisco; she arrives to discover her uncle is dead and gets adopted by a gambler because she is good luck. Sherman was going to change the title to
Nob Hill and film it for
United Artists the following year.
20th Century Fox had a lot of success making Technicolor musicals set during America's past, including
Coney Island (1943) and
Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943). Most were set in a saloon and revolved around a
love triangle. In October 1943 Fox announced they had purchased Sherman's interest in
Nob Hill.
Norman Reilly Raine was going to write the script, Andre Daven would produce and the film would be a vehicle for
Peggy Ann Garner, who had just impressed in
Jane Eyre. The original adult stars were to be
Michael O'Shea and
Jeanne Crain. Eventually the male starring role was assigned to
Fred MacMurray with
Gregory Ratoff to direct and
Lynn Bari and
Merle Oberon to be the female leads along with Garner. In May 1944 Ratoff dropped out and
Darryl F. Zanuck offered the film to
Henry Hathaway, who turned it down because he was uncomfortable with directing a musical. Zanuck put Hathaway on suspension, and Hathaway agreed to make the film. Zanuck allowed Hathaway to make some key changes, including reducing the amount of musical interludes, and removing a sequence that made fun of a Chinese servant. (Hathaway later claimed
Nob Hill was the only film "a studio ever handed me that I said I didn't want to make and I made it anyway.")
Fred MacMurray proved unavailable due to delays on
Murder, He Says and was replaced by George Raft. Raft had previously made a successful film set during this period for Zanuck,
The Bowery (1933). MacMurray instead went into
Where Do We Go From Here?. Bari was then put in
Where Do We Go From Here and Oberon dropped out; the female leads would be Vivian Blaine and Joan Bennett. Filming started in July 1944. ==Reception==