A picture show was adapted by Herman J. Mankiewicz, Casey Robinson (uncredited) and Jo Swerling from a story by Paul Gallico. It was directed by Sam Wood.

It won a Academy Award for Film Editing and was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Gary Cooper), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Teresa Wright), Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, Best Effects, Special Effects, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, Best Picture, Best Sound, Recording, Best Writing, Original Story and Best Writing, Screenplay.

This film is widely known for the line inside Lou Gehrig farewell speech. That line, "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth," was voted total 38 in the AFI listing of the Hundred greatest motion-picture show quotes ever.