The somber film""s screenplay (by Robert E.Sherwood and Joan Harrison) was based on a literal ranslation of Daphne du Maurier""s 1938 gothic novel of the same name, in the tradition of Charlotte Bronte""sJane Eyre.There are many opposing and conflicting forces being balanced: the individual vs.the power of big business, the populist little people in the peaceful country vs.the chaotic metropolitan city, good vs.evil, and innocent idealism vs.hardened cynicism.A "Cinderella" romance subplot involves a deceitful, hard-edged, and sardonic female newspaper reporter who falls in love with the newly-rich, guileless fortune inheritor while getting an "inside story" and making fun of him in her newspaper.Doc describes how he kept his sanity behind the prison walls for so many years by behaving himself (while planning and dreaming of escape to idyllic Mexico):Doc: It""s a matter of temperament.Kris entered into another dream-state when she went o sleep:She wandered into her backyard where she discovered that Freddy had slashed her dog to death.Feisal: You want me to fall back on the Yenbo.Brighton: Well, you""re not doing much good here, sir.I""m sorry to rub it in, sir, but we can""t supply you here.Feisal: You could supply us through Aqaba.Brighton: Aqaba? (laughs) Well, if you can get a hold of Aqaba sir, of course we can supply you.But you can""t.Feisal: You could.Brighton: You mean the Navy? The Turks have 12 inch guns at Aqaba, sir.Can you imagine what that means?Feisal: Yes, I can imagine.Brighton: Put that out of your mind, sir.The Navy""s got other things o do.Feisal (perceptively): Oh yes.Protecting the Suez Canal.Brighton: The one essential sector of this front is and must be the Canal.You can see that, sir, surely.Feisal: I see that the Canal is an essential British interest.It is of little consequence to us.Brighton: I must ask you not to speak like that, sir.British and Arab interests are one and the same.Feisal: Possibly.Sherif: Ha! Ha!Brighton believes the Arab guerrilla tribes should retreat to Yenbo because they need discipline, training by European officers (and ultimately absorption into the regular British forces), and equipment: "a modern rifle for every man.