Hold Back the Dawn (1941): Boyer, De Havilland and the Cockroach You Never Saw

Like so many classic films, Hold Back the Dawn is one of those that played on late night television back in the day but has an obscure status among younger fans of golden age movies.  Not as well known as higher profile pictures of its era, it is a solid classic nonetheless and deserves its rightful place as a bonefide gem.  Produced by Paramount in 1941, it is a unique and intriguing film with a backstory which is just as interesting, if not more so.

As the picture begins, Georges Iscovescu (Charles Boyer) is making his way across the lot of Paramount Pictures, obvious by his gait and expression, a man on a mission.  He is searching for, and eventually finds, director Mitchell Leisen, to whom he wants to sell his story, hoping for some fast money.  As his tale unfolds we discover the reason for his need of a quick buck.

Iscovescu is a Rumanian ballroom dancer cum gigolo, who finds himself in Tijuana, Mexico, trying, like so many others in the town, to get into the U.S.  He bumps into his ex-dancing partner, sexy vixen Anita Dixon (played by sexy vixen Paulette Goddard).  She explains that, as a girl of mixed international heritage (she is half Australian, half French), she got her American citizenship via quick marriage (and subsequent quick divorce) to an unsuspecting native.  Her tale gets Iscovescu's sordid wheels turning and he roams the streets of the Mexican border town in search of marital prey from the USA.  Enter Emmy Brown (Olivia de Havilland), a young, spinster-ish American schoolteacher.  The suave heel uses all his European charms, along with his thickest accent, to woo the wide eyed innocent into a whirlwind wedding.  What he doesn't realize is that U.S. immigration agent (Walter Abel) is in town, sniffing out fraud and his radar is on Georges in full force.

Hold Back the Dawn was directed by Leisen, a former set and art director, whose peak years at Paramount these were.  Like George Cukor, his directing style favored the leading ladies in his films and his design background added an elegant visual element to his pictures.  With Dawn, the setting is a dusty, hot border town in Mexico, not exactly the Ritz.  Yet Leisen conveyed a certain sophistication in both character development and camera work, which was matched by the writing of master team Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett.  There was, however, no love lost between Leisen and Wilder.  Their feuds over script changes are well documented and, like Preston Sturges before him, were the impetus for Wilder becoming a director in his own right.  One of the more explosive incidents during filming involved a scene where Boyer had to talk to a cockroach in his depressing, isolated hotel room.  The scene was a commentary on Iscovescu's immigration status, with the bitter emigre asking to see the roach's "papers."  Boyer thought the scene was degrading and refused to play it.  Leisen sided with the star, infuriating Wilder.  With the scene cut, Wilder and Brackett exacted their revenge on Boyer by rewriting the remaining scenes of the movie in favor of his leading lady de Havilland.  With the attention devoted to the actress by Leisen, the last portion of the script tipped in her direction and her own talent allowed to blossom in a quality production, de Havilland ended up with her first Best Actress Oscar nomination (she had been nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category for her role of Melanie in Gone with the Wind).

Olivia de Havilland's casting in the film was an ironic aspect to the production.  Screenwriter Charles Brackett had the actress in mind when penning the script, though her home studio, Warner Brothers, rarely loaned its stars and never without a hefty price tag.  The studio, however, was interested in Paramount star Fred MacMurray for a film called Dive Bomber that it was planning.  When negotiations began for MacMurray's services, Warners offered a list of its contractees as a trade off.  Olivia's name was on the list.  Paramount half heartedly accepted the actress in a swap with MacMurray, getting exactly what they wanted at no extra expense.  De Havilland's ironic inclusion in Hold Back the Dawn didn't end there.  Her Oscar nominated status was shared that year by her equally famous sister, Joan Fontaine.  Fontaine was nominated for Suspicion, a romantic suspense thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock.  Their sibling rivalry in Tinsel Town was exacerbated by this competition and the personal rift was only widened when Fontaine was proclaimed the winner on Oscar night (pictured above).

The film is a reflection on the community of American citizen wannabes in Tijuana during the 1930's and 1940's as much as it is on the plight of the main characters.  Rosemary de Camp gives a poignant portrayal as a pregnant European who, along with her husband, is awaiting her final entry papers, desperate that her baby be born on United States soil.  It is also interesting to see the interaction of American citizens making day trips across the border.  These lighthearted visits by tourists are a proverbial slap in the face to those pining to cross the ever taunting border.  Not to pass over the always lovely Paulette Goddard, her Anita is a fiery contrast to the more wholesome charms of de Havilland's Emmy.  In fact, there is a certain irony that Emmy comes across so hum-drum at first, as Olivia de Havilland is so physically appealing, a fact not lost on Anita during their face to face meeting.

Hold Back the Dawn was also nominated by the Academy as Best Picture, a deserved recognition.   An absolute perfect cast, good direction and writing, make it a film which should be viewed and remembered in the annals of classic movie history.  Catch it if you can.

*Note:  The film being shot by Mitchell Leisen at the beginning of Hold Back the Dawn is I Wanted Wings starring Veronica Lake, and actually Paramount release in 1941.

Midnight (1939): Happy Birthday Claudette Colbert

Classic and classy Claudette Colbert would have been 106 today. In her long and impressive career as a Hollywood actress, she gave one quality performance after another, covering multiple genres. She could handle heavy drama or dark suspense just as adroitly as she could high comedy. Midnight is one such comedy that Colbert handled to perfection. Yet another gem from 1939, the Paramount production is handled to perfection by all involved, including its other stars Don Ameche, John Barrymore and Mary Astor.

Colbert plays gold digging American chorine Eve Peabody, who finds herself down and out without a nickel to her name in Paris, wearing only a gold lame evening gown. She meets Parisian cabbie Tibor Czerney (pronounced Chair' ney; Don Ameche) and a mutual attraction is felt almost immediately. Afraid of where her feelings for Czerney might lead and out to follow the scent of money, Eve ditches the good looking taxi driver and crashes a swanky party loaded with well-to-dos. Posing as a Hungarian baroness (called Czerney), Eve meets wealthy Georges Flammarion (John Barrymore), his socialite wife Helene (Mary Astor) and Helene's lover Jacques Picot (Francis Lederer). When Jacques shows interest in Eve/Baroness Czerney, Georges seizes the opportunity to engage the down on her luck impostor to help him lure the gigolo away from his wife.

Much to Helene's chagrin, her husband invites the "Baroness" to a weekend party at their country estate. Meanwhile, Tibor has set up a dragnet with his fellow cabbies to search the streets of Paris for his lady fair. When one of them spots Eve in the limousine provided for her via Georges Flammarion, lovelorn Tibor discovers that she is at the Flammarion's plush chateau and follows in pursuit, with hilarious results.

Thanks to director Mitchell Leisen, who began his Hollywood career as an art director and costume designer, Midnight has a lush, luxurious feel with gorgeous sets and exquisitely tailored suits and gowns. The aura of old world aristocracy with its extravagant elegance is abundant which makes Colbert's charming freeloader's appearance there all the more delightful. Thanks to master screenwriting team Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder, the dialogue tossed about in and around that world sparkles and shines with biting wit. One scene has romantic rivals Colbert and Astor in a Parisian hat salon when Claudette quips to Mary: "That hat does something for you...It gives you a chin". It's not just the dialogue itself that works alone, but also the fantastic delivery by the film's stars. Colbert doesn't just spout out the "chin" line as a gag one-liner, but tosses it subtly as in normal conversation to make its sting even more potent.

Originally meant for Barbara Stanwyck, who would have done equally well using her own Stanwyck style in such a part, the role of Eve Peabody was a cinch for Claudette Colbert. One of four roles she played in 1939, her natural fun and sophistication are used to her great advantage in this film. Don Ameche, on a rare loan out from 20th Century-Fox, always seems to enjoy himself in romantic comedy and he and Colbert make a fine duo. As two of the five sides of the glorious comedic menagerie are John Barrymore and Mary Astor. Midnight was filmed late in Barrymore's tumultuous career and it shows on his face but his performance is amazingly funny. Most of his later roles were self-parodying drunks and madcap manics. He looks as if he may be tipsy as Flammarion but it gives the role all the more flair. Astor, who was pregnant during the shooting, isn't as bitchy as Helene as she has proved in other roles that she can be. She is merely catty when the situation calls for it. She is the perfect Hollywood example of the idle European rich at the time. Rounding out the cast are Czech born Francis Lederer, gossip columnist and part-time actress Hedda Hopper and in an early role, brusque and bearded Monty Wooley.

Not as well known as other Colbert comedies (everyone immediately thinks of It Happened One Night, The Palm Beach Story or The Egg and I), Midnight is an excellent film, not to be missed. It is brisk and breezy with a solid plot and tons of great humor. If the opportunity arises, catch it.