Cinematographer Jack Cardiff recounts how, late in the shoot, Henry Hathaway requested a dozen women for a desert scene. In spite of the remote location, the ever resourceful assistant director, Bluey Hill, returned an hour later with a truck full of Moroccan women. To the amusement of some of the crew, and embarrassment of several electricians and stagehands, the women started greeting several of them by name, as Bluey had hired his extras from the local brothel. Orson Welles tells the story that in Morocco they had three thousand black extras, none of whom, apparently, could speak English. One man spoke French, however, so Welles had to translate director Henry Hathaway's profane, screaming rants into polite French directions the man would then translate into their North African language. Eventually, as the camera was about to roll, another man holding a spear whom they hadn't noticed walked from the far background right up to the camera, looked Hathaway in the eye, and said, "C--ksucker."