 Faced with potential unemployment from the sale of Ealing Studios to the BBC in 1954 , director Alexander Mackendrick began entertaining offers from Hollywood . He rejected potential contracts from Cary Grant and David Selznick and signed with independent production company Hecht @-@ Hill @-@ Lancaster , enticed by their offer to adapt George Bernard Shaw ’ s play The Devil 's Disciple . After the project collapsed during pre @-@ production , Mackendrick asked to be released from his commitment . Harold Hecht refused and asked him to start work on another project – adapting Ernest Lehman ’ s <unk> Sweet Smell of Success into a film . 
