According to information in the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library, the play was rejected as a possible film property in Jan 1925 by the Hays Office. Early in Jan 1934, a United Artists official informed MPPDA President Will H. Hays that 20th Century Pictures (which released through United Artists but was not a member of the MPPDA, as was United Artists) wanted to produce a film based on the play. Hays thought that the project should be approved by members of the MPPDA's Executive Committee. It appears that this did not occur, as Hays's secretary wrote to Breen in Nov 1934, following the film's release, "UA used [the] title The Affairs of Cellini without authority. Had they registered it here it would not have been accepted and it has caused quite a little trouble." On 18 Jan 1934, Joseph Breen , head of the AMPP's Studio Relations Committee, noted in a memo, "Mr. [Darryl] Zanuck [production head of 20th Century Pictures] assured us of his purpose to almost completely re-write the script submitted to us....He has also advised us that he has used but two sequences from the original play." Breen commented, however, "In the script submitted to us, Cellini, and both the Duke and the Duchess, are made out to be libidinous persons who engage themselves in promiscuous sexuality."
       According to a news item, in Jan 1934, Darryl Zanuck changed the title of the film from Affairs of Cellini back to the title of the play, The Firebrand . A HR news item of 6 Jan 1934 reported that Zanuck had hopes of getting Charles Laughton for the role of Duke Alessandro, but that Paramount, to whom Laughton was contracted, had not agreed to a deal. In a 11 Jan 1934 news item, HR reported that Frank Morgan, who played Alessandro in the Broadway production of the play, was signed along with Frances Dee. Var reported that during the filming, Frank Morgan's performance constantly caused other actors to break up in laughter. Information in the Twentieth Century-Fox Produced Scripts Collection at the UCLA Theater Arts Library credit Fred de Gresac with an adaptation of the play. It is not known if his contributions were used in the final screenplay. Although the film did not open until 24 Aug 1934, it was reviewed in trade journals in Apr and May 1934 both under the title The Firebrand and under the release title The Affairs of Cellini . Reviews differ concerning the film's running time. The Broadway production of the play starred Joseph Schildkraut as Cellini. Ivor Novello played Cellini when the play opened in London on 8 Feb 1926.
       The Affairs of Cellini was nominated for four Academy Awards--Best Actor, Best Art Diretion, Best Cinematography and Best Sound Recording. A musical entitled The Firebrand of Florence based on the play, with music by Kurt Weill and lyrics by Ira Gershwin, opened on Broadway on 22 Mar 1945. More Less