The scenario was based on the 1912 novel, The Fighting Blade by Beulah Marie Dix. Plans for a screen version from director John S. Robertson were announced in the 10 March 1923 and 24 March 1923 issues of Motion Picture News. In addition to star Richard Barthelmess, the cast included British actress Dorothy Mackaill, whom the 5 April 1923 Variety identified as a former Ziegfeld chorus girl.
       Principal photography began soon after, as stated in the 14 April 1923 edition. Robertson initially considered shooting on location in England, but ultimately decided to stay in the New York City area and rented the Universal Studio in Fort Lee, NJ, for interior shots. Articles in the 9 June 1923 Motion Picture News and the 14 October 1923 Los Angeles Times noted that the film featured the largest movie set ever constructed at an East Coast studio. Modeled after the Great Hall at Staversham Castle near Oxford, England, the set reportedly overtook the entire Universal lot and was populated by hundreds of background actors in period costume. Barthelmess later told the 6 October 1923 Exhibitors Trade Review that he prepared for his role by letting his hair grow for six months.
       On 26 May 1923, Motion Picture News stated that, following the completion of interior scenes, Robertson and art director Everett Shinn searched northern New Jersey for estates and architecture consistent the film’s seventeenth-century English setting, to be used for exteriors. The close of production was reported in the 30 June 1923 Motion Picture News. Robertson was currently supervising the editing of 80,000 feet of film. An item in the 8 September 1923 issue noted that editor William Hamilton personally delivered the negative to duplicator Rothacker Film Manufacturing Co., in Chicago, IL.
       The Fighting Blade was released in September 1923. Openings followed during the week of 16 September 1923 at the Princess Theatre in Hartford, CT; during the week of 7 October 1923 at the Mark Strand Theatre in New York City; and during the week of 14 October 1923 at the Alhambra Theatre in Los Angeles, CA. Articles in the 27 October 1923 and 10 November 1923 editions of Motion Picture News revealed that the New York City engagement attracted a standing-room-only crowd for its opening matinee. The feature was among ten Associated First National releases to be selected for Picture Book Week by the National Board of Review.
       Shortly after the film’s release, the 15 September 1923 Moving Picture World announced that Barthelmess was to be teamed with Mackaill in his next feature, Twenty-One (1923, see entry).
       According to the Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database, this film is extant.