The proposal for the remake came from producer Hal Wallis to Jack L. Warner in a memo dated April 30, 1938, to financially exploit public awareness of impending war brought on by the German annexation of Austria the month before. Goulding was available to direct after being taken off the filming of "Jezebel" in favor of William Wyler. Warner had hired Goulding in 1937 on a per-film basis after Louis B. Mayer had fired him from MGM Studios in a sex scandal, and offered him the "Dawn Patrol" assignment to keep him interested while he completed preparations for filming "Dark Victory", which he also wanted Goulding to direct. Although Goulding detested remakes, he had successfully filmed a remake of one of his own films as his first Warner Brothers project and agreed.