Jean Gabin refused the role that eventually went to Charles Vanel because he didn't think his fans would pay to see him play a "coward". Montand and Vanel both contracted conjunctivitis after filming in the pool of crude oil and being exposed to gas fumes. Clouzot originally planned on shooting the film in Spain, but Montand and his wife, Simone Signoret, refused to work in Spain as long as the fascist dictator Francisco Franco was in power. Filming took place instead in the south ...[Read Story ]