HOLD BACK THE DAWN Review – Charles Boyer, Olivia de Havilland, Paulette Goddard d: Mitchell Leisen

HOLD BACK THE DAWN (1941)

Direction: Mitchell Leisen

Cast: Charles Boyer, Olivia de Havilland, Paulette Goddard, Victor Francen, Walter Abel, Curt Bois, Rosemary DeCamp

Screenplay: Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder; from Ketti Fring's story

Oscar Movies

Recommended

Olivia de Havilland, Charles Boyer, Paulette Goddard, Hold Back the Dawn

Olivia de Havilland shines in Mitchell Leisen's melodrama Hold Back the Dawn, a sort of opening bracket for the director's World War II-era films.

Adapted by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett from Ketti Frings' semi-autobiographical story, Hold Back the Dawn stars Charles Boyer as George Iscovescu, a Romanian dancer unable to enter the U.S. from Mexico due to immigration quotas imposed at the onset of the European conflict.

Paulette Goddard is his scheming former partner, Anita, who marries an American to gain entry into the country only to immediately leave the duped husband. George adopts the idea — a naïve small-town schoolteacher visiting a Mexican border town is his prey.

As the unsuspecting teacher, Olivia de Havilland radiates understanding and sympathy. Despite the fact that hers is a smaller role and that she's up against Boyer’s robust lover charisma, de Havilland walks away with the film thanks to a genuine, romantic portrayal of "simplicity."

An allegory of American isolationism as Europe is pulled into war — and of how the U.S. should not be deceived into involvement — Hold Back the Dawn includes several scenes of clumsy propaganda; even so, the film is overall remarkably tactful. Although odd, unnecessary bookends depict George recounting his story to a Paramount director (played by Leisen), what truly matters is that the core romance and especially de Havilland’s warm performance remain fully convincing.

For her efforts, de Havilland was nominated for a best actress Academy Award; she lost to her younger sister Joan Fontaine in Alfred Hitchcock's Suspicion. Five years later, de Havilland would win an Oscar for another Mitchell Leisen film, To Each His Own, the director's World War II closing bracket.

© Doug Johnson

Note: This review was initially posted in November 2009.