Hold Back the Dawn (1941)

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

A quick watch at the first 20 minutes makes you think this one shouldn't be close; oily smooth operator Charles Boyer, a continental gigolo and dancer vs small town schoolmarm Olivia De Havilland. Blowout. Game over. But Hollywood has a way of evening the sides with a first class script and a great storyline.As noted, Boyer is trying to enter the US via Mexico just prior to WW II. In those days it was a long wait - about 6-8 years, he was told. What to do? He discovers he can get in almost immediately as the spouse of a US citizen, and he finds one in sitting duck De Havilland, who is conducting a class trip south of the border. There are several side stories attendant to this one, but they fade into the background of this intensely dramatic love story of deceit and redemption. Boyer always came across to me just as he does here, a conniver and a liar ("Gaslight", "All This And Heaven Too") and he was pitch perfect in this one. Olivia De Havilland, vulnerable and sensitive as always, got an AA nom for her work here - the film earned 6 AA nominations in all.Immigration problems seem like something from the middle ages nowadays, when there seems to be a turnstile at the border. This gives the picture a very dated feel. Some, like myself, may not care for the artificial ending but the two principals endow this movie with loads of heart and make it a winner. Too bad you can't see it, unless you find a DVD pirate and buy a copy.

As was the pattern of her career at this point Olivia DeHavilland was getting her best roles away from her home studio of Warner Brothers. No matter what she accomplished away from Warner be it an Oscar nomination for Gone With The Wind and for this film, Jack Warner resolutely refused to see her any heavy dramatic parts. His view of DeHavilland as the leading lady waiting patiently for her man to accomplish his mission remained transfixed throughout her tenure at Warner Brothers.I'm sure that given what she accomplished in Gone With The Wind, Warner got quite a sum from Paramount for her services for Hold Back The Dawn. In it Olivia plays a schoolteacher on holiday in Mexico with some boys from her class. But depending on your point of view she's unlucky enough or lucky enough to meet Charles Boyer who is a Romanian refugee wanting really bad to get to this country.Boyer is a part time tango dancer and full time gigolo and his partner Paulette Goddard has already gotten US citizenship by marrying a jockey from Agua Caliente racetrack and later divorcing him. She wants to resume her association with Boyer professionally and personally and Goddard urges him to romance some American tourist and do what he does best and get married.Which is when Olivia falls into Boyer's life. She's young and naive and full of illusions and he really starts to hate himself, romancing some worldly dowager for money is one thing, but Olivia's trust gets to him. He actually commits a sacrifice of sort in this relationship.Although DeHavilland got the Oscar nomination for me Boyer makes the film. The change that comes in his character come subtly and gradually and the tools to do it and the guidance come from script writers Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett and director Mitchell Leisen. Boyer gives a very subtle performance that should have received more recognition.Not to say Olivia didn't deserve her recognition coming in the form of that Oscar nomination for Best Actress. In fact she was the betting favorite to win, but her sister Joan Fontaine beat her out with her performance in Suspicion. As is part of movie legend these two sisters were quite competitive and this didn't help the relationship.In fact Hold Back The Dawn got six Oscar nominations including Best Picture, but came up short for Paramount. Still it's an impressive piece of work even seventy years after it was first released.Also note the performances of Walter Abel as the immigration official and Rosemary DeCamp another refugee who finds her own method of entrée into the good old USA.I hope it comes out on DVD at some point.

It is a sad reflection that many of the movies made so long ago still compare brilliantly with the best of today. "Hold Back the Dawn" is one of those - superbly put together by Billy Wilder & Charles Brackett, and with some of the finest acting of 1941. Outtanding are Charles Boyer, in what I feel is his best acting, and Olivia de Havilland who apparently had to go to Paramount to be appreciated (her two Oscar films were made there, and she was nominated also for this one!) is a standout. Paulette Goddard in a role almost written for her was very good, and the supporting cast was excellent. Migrants trying to get into the United States has always been a hot topic, but here it is treated sympathetically in a very informative way. I have to say the ending was not well done, and one gets the feeling all was not well somewhere.

Charles Boyer, Olivia de Havilland and Paulette Goddard deserve high praise for their performances in this poignant and touching slice of Americana from Mitchell Leisen (who later directed de Havilland in 'To Each His Own'). Basically the story of a European gigolo (Boyer) who wants to get into the United States without a long wait in Mexico. His girlfriend and ex-dancing partner (Paulette Goddard) convinces him to marry an unsuspecting American schoolteacher (de Havilland)in order to gain fast entry before ditching her. Colorful supporting characters come to life--most notably Walter Abel as an immigration officer and Rosemary de Camp as a pregnant woman who wants her child born in the U.S. Boyer narrates the story to a film director (Mitchell Leisen) and we see the story unfold in flashback from his point of view. Excellent work by all concerned. My only complaint is the abrupt ending--which I understand was a result of trouble with Boyer who wanted certain scenes rewritten--a final scene between him and de Havilland would have been preferable to what seems like a letdown for the finale. As it is, it looks like choppy editing before "The End" flashes on the screen. Still, a romantic drama with an abundant amount of dry humor and some crackling dialogue by Paulette Goddard who sparkles in her role as "the other woman". Her confrontation scene with the schoolteacher is one of the highlights of the film. De Havilland was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for this, but lost to her sister, Joan Fontaine, for 'Suspicion'.