Hallam's departures from this script were so frequent and radical that Ambrose was constantly being surprised. The ski contest was abandoned because the tentative date set for the release of the film apparently would not leave Hallam time enough to carry it through. He substituted for this a drowning in a lake and from a map picked a lake in the distant Rockies as the only appropriate location. There were plenty of other lakes nearer to hand, but Hallam insisted that no other would do. The scene was elaborate as it involved a Russian picnic. Some seventy-odd persons, as well as camera men, star, and leading actors, were carried by rail a few hundred miles only to discover that there had been no water in this particular lake for several years. Hallam was not nonplussed. He brought his company back to Los Angeles and filmed the scene within walking distance of the studio. The episode never reached the screen: it died on the cutting-room floor.
It had been Ambrose's intention to leave Hollywood while the picture was being filmed—he could find no logical reason for remaining—but Philip Lawrence set him right.
You've got to hang around so they can consult you, he explained. Of course they won't take your advice, but they're paying you and so they'll go
