Ford opted for the movie to be in black-and-white despite colour very much being the norm for Hollywood movies of the time.

There are conflicting accounts over why this decision was made, including that Ford thought it was a better medium.

However, cinematographer William H Clothier later said: “There was one reason and one reason only… Paramount was cutting costs. Otherwise, we would have been in Monument Valley or Brackettville and we would have had colour stock. Ford had to accept those…