According to Wikipedia:
Otto Preminger had directed the 1951 Broadway production of F. Hugh Herbert's play with Barbara Bel Geddes, Donald Cook, and Barry Nelson in the lead roles. Its successful run of 924 performances prompted him to contract with United Artists to finance and distribute a screen adaptation over which he would have complete control. He deferred his producer's and director's salaries in exchange for 75% of the film's profits.[
Preminger cast David Niven over the objection of studio executives, who felt the actor's career was in a decline. The director cast him in a West Coast production of the play to prepare for the film.[2] Last of the leads to be cast was Maggie McNamara, making her screen debut in a role she had played on stage in Chicago.
Herbert's play had been a huge success in Germany, and Preminger decided to film English and German language versions simultaneously, using the same sets but different casts. The director estimated this method would increase the filming schedule by only eight to ten days and production costs by only 10 to 15 percent. The budget for both films was $373,445.[4]
On July 13, 1951, the Breen office contacted Herbert and advised him his screenplay was in violation of the Motion Picture Production Code because of its "light and gay treatment of the subject of illicit sex and seduction." On December 26, Preminger submitted a revised draft of the script which, due to numerous lines of dialogue exhibiting "an unacceptably light attitude towards seduction, illicit sex, chastity, and virginity," was rejected on January 2, 1952. Contrary to later legend, the words "virgin," "mistress," and "pregnant," all of which had been in the original play's dialogue, were not singled out as objectionable. On January 6, Preminger and Herbert advised the Breen office they disagreed with its decision and would film the screenplay without further changes.
