Hold Back the Dawn [Blu-ray]

Director: Mitchell Leisen Mitchell Leisen

Overview

Hold Back the Dawn begins with a shabby immigrant (Charles Boyer) wandering onto a Paramount sound stage and telling his life story to director Mitchell Leisen (who actually directed this film). In flashback, we see that Boyer was once a conscienceless gigolo, desperate to flee Nazi-occupied Europe. He makes it to Mexico, where he pretends to fall in love with shy schoolteacher Olivia de Havilland. It is his plan to marry her, thus be able to enter the United States; then he intends to dump her and pursue the woman he really loves. Boyer's regeneration, and the price he pays for his previous callousness, brings Hold Back the Dawn to its tearful conclusion.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/16/2019
UPC:	0760137254386
Original Release:	1941
Rating:	NR
Source:	Arrow Video
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[monaural]
Language:	English
Time:	1:56:00
Sales rank:	20,553

Special Features

New audio commentary by film scholar Adrian Martin; Love Knows No Borders, a newly filmmed video appreciation by film critic Geoff Andrew; The John Player Lecture: Olivia de Havilland, a career spanning onstage audio interview with Olivia de Havilland recorded at the National Film Theatre in 1971; Rare hour-long radio adaptation of Hold Back the Dawn from 1941 starring Charles Boyer, Paulette Goddard and Susan Haywood; Gallery of original stills and promotional images

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Charles Boyer	Georges Iscovescu
Olivia de Havilland	Emmy Brown
Paulette Goddard	Anita Dixon
Victor Francen	Prof. Van Den Luecken
Walter Abel	Inspector Hammock
Curt Bois	Bonbois
Rosemary DeCamp	Berta Kurz
Eric Feldary	Josef Kurz
Nestor Paiva	Flores
Eva Puig	Lupita
Micheline Cheirel	Christine
Madeleine LeBeau	Anni
Billy Lee	Tony
Mitchell Leisen	Mr. Saxon
Brian Donlevy	On-the-Set Film Actor
Richard Webb	On-the-Set Film Actor
Veronica Lake	On-the-Set Film Actor
Sonny Boy Williams	Sam
Don Douglas	Joe
Gertrude Astor	Young Woman at Climax Bar
Jesus Topete	Mechania
Tony Roux	Mechania
Mikhail Rasumny	Mechania
June Pickrell	Mrs. Brown
Buddy Messinger	Elevator Boy
Ray Mala	Husky Young Mexican Bridegroom
Soledad Jiminez	Old Peon's Wife
George Anderson	Emmy's doctor
Placido Sigueiros	Old Peon
Edward Fielding	American Consul
Chester Clute	Man
Francisco Maran	Mexican Doctor
Carlos Villarias	Mexican Judge
Charles Arnt	Mr. MacAdams
Arthur Loft	Hollander
John Holland	Mr. MacAdams
Leon Belasco	Mr. Spitzer
Ella Neal	Bride
June Wilkins	Vivienne Worthington

Technical Credits

Billy Wilder

Charles Brackett

Arthur Hornblow Jr.	Producer
Mitchell Leisen	Director
Billy Wilder	Screenwriter
Charles Brackett	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

The late Billy Wilder was often quoted as saying that the reason why he became a director was to prevent the scripts he was writing from being butchered. The film most often cited as the straw that broke the camel's back for him is Hold Back The Dawn, co-written by Wilder and his longtime partner Charles Brackett and directed by the veteran Mitchell Leisen. A bit of a tearjerker, the film captures the essence of the refugee experience in America, or the experience of refugees trying to reach America. Charles Boyer plays Georges, who has been stopped in Mexico by U.S. Immigration and who hopes to get into the country by marrying a U.S. citizen. He targets Emmy Brown, played by the great Olivia de Havilland, and naturally, over the course of putting his plan into action, develops genuine affection for her. Since Wilder was an immigrant himself, one can't help but wonder just how much of Georges struggles are personifying those that the writer experienced himself. Although Wilder's long-standing bone of contention was that Leisen was too carefree in letting the actors, particularly Boyer, alter lines in his precious script, objectively Leisen does a decent job of keeping the powerful emotions from slipping into outright melodrama. While the film does touch nerves, the emotions are genuine even though they are ostensibly conjured by an act of deceit and opportunism. Made as it was on the eve of America's entry into the Second World War, Hold Back The Dawn is an effective look at those whose appreciation of America is not taken for granted as their birthright.