This film was unsuccessful at the box office resulting in a loss to MGM of $29,000 ($503,000 in 2017) according to studio records.
The year 1938 was a year of renewed interest in the American Civil War with the release of Jezebel (1938) from Warner Bros. and the success of the novel "Gone with the Wind" which was also being adapted for the screen. MGM did not want to miss the fad, so they rushed this film into production.
Luise Rainer, having just won two Oscars the previous two years for The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and The Good Earth (1937) had so angered MGM head Louis B. Mayer by constantly demanding a higher salary that he cast her in this "B" picture as punishment. She would end her contract with the studio later in the year and would not make another film until Paramount's Hostages (1943).
The play "Frou-Frou" by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy opened in Paris, France on 30 October 1869. Its English adaptation, "Frou Frou," by Augustin Daly, opened in New York on 15 February 1870 at Daly's Fifth Avenue Theatre (24th St. near 5th Ave.) and ran for 103 performances. There were failed revivals on Broadway in 1902 (4 performances) and 1912 (8 performances).
The poster for this movie was up in the alley, in "The Twilight Zone" "The Incredible World of Horace Ford" In the scene, when the kids are beating up Horace Ford.