An unusual, exceptional tale of love and redemption
When I became fascinated by “old movies” as a young boy, I’d try to see every film I could find featuring movie stars I loved, and that included Olivia de Havilland. In my quest to see more of Ms. de Havilland, I stumbled upon a rarely talked about treasure, “Hold Back the Dawn”. Packed with tantalizing characters, gripping conflicts, dynamic settings, and unexpected twists, I found this forgotten masterpiece so engrossing, it quickly became a favorite and remains a film I love. Wonderfully unique, it doesn't fit exactly into any one genre, for it contains melodrama, comedy, romance, intrigue, suspense, a road trip, and even a car chase perfectly sewn together in a very moving way. It's also a stellar example of how affecting great acting can be.
Written by the genius team of Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder, directed by one of Hollywood’s preeminent directors of the day, Mitchell Leisen, shot by one of filmdom’s finest, cinematographers Leo Tover, and starring three Hollywood giants, Olivia de Havilland, Charles Boyer, and Paulette Goddard, “Hold Back the Dawn” is prime entertainment from all sides. It earned six Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture), and a rare 100% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes. Not bad for a film that is largely overlooked.
“Hold Back the Dawn” begins with a shot of a movie studio gate with the superimposed text: “Perhaps the best way to begin this story is to tell you how it came to us. One day last August into the Paramount Studios in Hollywood walked a man…”. The man is “Georges Iscovescu”, who’s come to the studio looking for a film director named “Dwight Saxon”. After finagling his way onto the lot, he finds “Saxon” and tries to sell him a story – his story – before the federal police come to take him away. The bulk of “Hold Back the Dawn” is “Georges'” story in flashback as relayed to “Saxon”.
A Romanian dancer (aka gigolo) who spent most of his life in France, “Georges” left war-torn Europe for a border town in Mexico with the hopes of entering the United States permanently. But to do so he needs a visa, and because the number of Romanians given US visas each year is very small under America’s quota system and the wait list very long, it may take him five to eight years to get one. So “Georges” ends up one of many foreigners from around the world living at the Esperanza hotel waiting for their quotas to come up and get into the US.
While biding his time, “Georges” is spotted by his former “dance” partner, fellow grifter and ex-mistress “Anita”, who still has the hots for him. She fast tracked her way into the US in just four weeks by marrying an American who she divorced after a year (though it will take another two years for her to become a citizen). That gives “Georges” the idea to find an American wife who he'll quickly dump after he’s in the US, and then he can move to New York with “Anita”. All he needs is the right prey. Lucky for him it happens to be the 4th of July, a day when the town is flooded with Americans who’ve crossed the border to attend the town’s annual fiesta.
After many unsuccessful attempts to snag a bride, “Georges” stumbles upon “Emmy Brown”, a prim, dutiful schoolteacher who has come with her class of mischievous little schoolboys to attend the celebration and soak up culture. After a rocky beginning and some scheming and manipulation, “Emmy” begins to fall for this gigolo. As “George” tells “Saxon”, “I had thrown some crumbs of romance before her hungry heart. The trap was set. She never had a chance”. “Georges” and “Emmy” quickly end up married, but things don’t turn out exactly the way you’d expect. Because there are so many surprises, I’ll leave my plot description at that.
While there’s a lot of action in “Hold Back the Dawn”, it’s "Georges" and "Emmy's" emotional and psychological struggles that surprisingly drive the story. The film becomes less about a woman being tricked into marriage and more a provocative study of deception, redemption, the extremes people will go to, and the power of love. The film doesn’t have a message or point of view, but presents gripping food for thought.
It's all set against a backdrop of immigration, making the film even more fascinating and timely. There’s an immigration inspector named “Hammock” who ventures to the Esperanza hotel once or twice a year to check in on the refugees. He’s suddenly gotten wise to what he says is an "epidemic of marrying up and down the border” to get into the country, adding that his department has a new theme song, “Is it love or is it immigration?”.
Immigration was a hot topic at the time because America was facing a refugee crisis, as hundreds of thousands of people were trying to flee Europe and come to the US during World War II. “Hold Back the Dawn” taps into it from many angles, including how hard it is to get into the US (as “Georges” says of the border’s wire fence: “Don’t let them tell you it’s only twelve feet high – it's a thousand miles high”), the desperation of refugees (we follow several of their stories), prejudice against foreigners, the power of the American Dream, and how America is a cultural melting pot for all. Again, it's all presented without taking sides.
This ultra-intriguing film was based on a story by Ketti Frings, who had written a novel "Hold Back the Dawn” based somewhat on her husband's experiences. She turned it into a slightly altered film treatment titled "Memo to a Movie Producer" which Paramount bought and assigned writers Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder to turn into a screenplay, and director Mitchell Leisen to direct. Brackett and Wilder were already a successful writing duo who previously collaborated on several screenplays including "Bluebeard's Eighth Wife”, “Ninotchka” (which earned them an Oscar nomination), and two previous films directed by Leisen (1939's "Midnight" and 1940's "Arise, My Love”).
The Austrian-born Wilder knew about immigration firsthand, as he'd fled Europe for the US in 1934, and once his work visa ran out in 1938, had to wait for his immigration visa in a Mexican border town. His experiences helped color the screenplay. Another aspect Wilder and Brackett infused into “Hold Back the Dawn” is sex (something in nearly all their screenplays), which permeates this film. Though never said or spoken about, sex is everywhere, most obviously going on between “Georges” and “Anita” (they even shut the hotel door on us to have sex), and how it awakens in “Emmy” (who lets her hair down, eager to consummate her marriage). The script is brilliantly constructed, filled with humor, pathos, and the unexpected, and it earned Bracket and Wilder their second Best Screenplay Oscar nomination.
But Wilder’s experience on the film wasn’t all rosy. He and Brackett had written a scene with “Georges” lying on his hotel bed in despair about having to wait for a visa as a cockroach crawls up the wall and tries to climb onto a broken mirror. “Georges” uses his cane to prevent the roach from reaching the mirror, berating it as if he was a border guard asking for its visa. Boyer (who plays “Georges”) felt foolish talking to a bug, didn’t want to do the scene and convinced Leisen to omit it, which he did. Because Leisen forbade screenwriters on the sets of his movies, Wilder found out the scene was cut when running into Boyer in the studio commissary. Furious, Wilder decided then and there he'd had enough of directors changing his scripts and that he'd become a director to have full control over his own screenplays. He directed the next film he wrote with Brakcett, 1942’s “The Major and the Minor”, and so began Wilder’s career as one of cinema’s greatest writers and directors (thank you Mitchell Leisen!). You can read more about the life and career of legendary Billy Wilder in my posts on four films he wrote and directed, "The Apartment", “Some Like It Hot”, “Double Indemnity”, and "Sunset Boulevard” (which includes more on his collaboration with Brackett). Just click on the film titles to open those posts.
Leisen may not have cared as much about words as Wilder, but he was fantastic at capturing the emotional nuances of characters and drawing out heartfelt performances from his actors, and “Hold Back the Dawn” is as fine an example as one can find. All the characters (from the wicked schoolboy with the fireworks, the suspicious "Inspector Hammock”, to all three leads) possess a compelling quality that makes them distinctly human. As Leisen said in David Chierichetti’s book “Mitchell Leisen: Hollywood Director”: “Well, nobody’s all good, or all bad, not in my movies at least. There’s a little bad in the best of us and a little good in the worst of us”. Perhaps that’s why these well-rounded characters all seem so real.
On par with his expertise at presenting flesh and blood characters was Leisen’s keen visual style. His eye for detail and sense of aesthetics create lush, engaging visuals that enhance his storytelling. A quick but telling example is when the schoolboys run into the hotel lobby. Leisen has us hear them first, then barely see their heads running above a window curtain, then their shadows running along a window shade, and finally shows them entering the hotel. The moment is so quick it may seem like nothing, but its effect makes their entrance excitingly rowdy. And that's using cinema to its full, glorious effect.
Without flashy camera moves, Leisen peaks our interest by how he moves characters within a frame. An example is the lingering shot when “Georges” and “Hammock” enter Esperanza’s lobby to talk to “Mrs. Iscovescu”. “Georges” moves close to the camera and far (depending on his level of desperation), forming interesting visual compositions while holding our interest. The same is quite clear in the scene between “Anita” and “Emmy” in the hotel room, in which the choreography of the two combined with inserted closeups has a grand emotional and psychological payoff.
Yet another of Leisen’s talents was his extraordinary integration of sets and costumes (both of which he always had a heavy hand in) to add depth and authenticity to the story. Though most of the film was shot on studio sets, the Mexican settings and the hotel Esperanza ring true, visually giving us a sense of the place and the people that inhabit them. Leisen even conjures a scorchingly lonely sensuality by the gorgeous way he shoots the beach sequence, making a first kiss inevitable. His gift with actors, characters, visual storytelling, and emotional depth made him one of Hollywood's most successful and important directors of his day. Sadly, he is pretty much forgotten today when people talk about famous studio era directors.
Born in Michigan with a club foot, Mitchell Leisen was raised in St. Louis. He had foot surgery at the age of five, leaving him slightly lame for many years. A student of art and architecture, he began designing hotel ballrooms and sets for plays in Chicago. Around 1919, he moved to Los Angeles, and by chance, was hired to design costumes for silent film director Cecil B. DeMille (starting with 1919’s "Male and Female”) and put under contract. After a few more films, Leisen told DeMille he wasn't a dressmaker but an architect and wanted to try his hand designing sets. DeMille had him work as set designer on his brother's films (William C. DeMille), starting with 1920's "The Prince Chap". Leisen designed costumes for such prestigious films as "Robin Hood", "The Thief of Bagdad", and "The Sign of the Cross", and sets for notable films like "The King of Kings" and "The Squaw Man”, and earned an Oscar nomination (his only) for Best Art Direction for 1930's "Dynamite". During this period, Leisen began observing and studying all aspects of filmmaking from camera lenses and lighting to visual storytelling, and between costume and set design jobs, began working as an assistant director. His directorial debut was 1933's "Cradle Song”, and his second directed film, 1934’s "Death Takes a Holiday", made him a notable director.
The versatile Leisen directed a variety of genres from romantic comedies to melodramas, and even successfully tried his hand at slapstick screwball comedy with 1937’s “Easy Living” –his first collaboration with writer Preston Sturges. Leisen worked again with Sturges, who (prior to Wilder) got so fed up with Leisen changing his scripts, he became a director to gain control over his own screenplays (again, thank you Leisen).
As a director, Leisen enjoyed fifteen consecutive years of box-office hits without a single flop. Major stars flocked to be in his movies, audiences knew his name, and he was one of Paramount's top, most important directors of the 1930’s and 1940s. Beginning with 1948's "Dream Girl", his career began a slow decline. Audience tastes were changing and it was the beginning of the end of the studio system, a system in which Leisen thrived. With a reputation for being difficult and a few flops under his belt, Paramount began assigning him worse and worse films. After 1951's "Darling, How Could You!", he and Paramount negotiated that he'd make only one film a year for the next four years for them. He directed films at other studios and began directing on television in 1958, before retiring in 1967.
Leisen directed 52 films and TV shows from 1933 to 1967, and his other films include "Midnight", "Remember the Night", "To Each His Own", "Hands Across the Table", "Death Takes a Holiday", "No Man of Her Own", and "The Mating Season". The openly gay Leisen married opera singer Sondra Gahle in 1927, who often lived apart from him and accepted his dalliances with men. They divorced in 1942. He had a very long relationship with male dancer/actor/choreographer Billy Daniel, which Leisen never hid.
Forever bitter from his experience on "Hold Back the Dawn", Wilder publicly spoke ill of Leisen for decades, calling him no more than a "window dresser" and saying "I don't knock fairies... [but Leisen] was a stupid fairy”. Sturges also continually bad-mouthed Leisen, calling him "an interior decorator who couldn't direct", none of which was true, but all of which unfortunately colored Leisen's reputation and may have added as to why he is largely forgotten. Due to circulatory problems in his clubbed foot leg, it was amputated sometime around 1970. In addition to his movie career, he was a club owner and promoter, writer, interior decorator, accomplished couturier, pilot, painter, and sculptor. Mitchell Leisen died in 1972 at the age of 74.
Leisen not only directed “Hold Back the Dawn” but also appears in it as film director "Dwight Saxon", the man to whom "Georges" tells his story. We see “Saxon” directing a scene from "I Wanted Wings" (Leisen's previous film). In the scene, he directs two of the actual stars of "I Wanted Wings", Veronica Lake (who you can read about in my post on "Sullivan's Travels") and Brian Donlevy. This sequence was shot specifically for "Hold Back the Dawn”. Leisen joined the Screen Actors Guild so he could play the role, and donated his acting wages to charity.
Capturing stunning visuals in "Hold Back the Dawn" was highly respected cinematographer Leo Tover, whose expertise in lighting and composition heightens the atmospheric and emotive quality of the film, whether inside a Mexican village church, at the Esperanza hotel, or in a car in the rain. The film is visually stirring from start to finish and earned Tover a Best Cinematography Academy Award nomination.
At the age of sixteeen, Connecticut-born Leo Tover began as a clapper boy and camera assistant before becoming a cinematographer nearly a decade later with 1926's "Fascinating Youth". While working at RKO Pictures, he proved himself a top technician with a gift for composition, and went on to work mostly at Paramount and 20th Century Fox. He shot well over 100 films, many notable, such as "Journey to the Center of the Earth", "The Farmer's Daughter", "The Snake Pit", "I Walk Alone", "Dead Reckoning", "Bluebeard's Eighth Wife", and several already on this blog, including "I'm No Angel", "The Day the Earth Stood Still", and "The Heiress” (which earned him a second Oscar nomination). His final film was 1965's "A Very Special Favor". He was married three times, including once to actress Mary Kornman. Leo Tover died in 1964 at the age of 62.
Charles Boyer stars in “Hold Back the Dawn” as “Georges Iscovescu”, a gigolo desperate to become a US citizen. He’s broke and down on his luck, as indicated when telling “Anita” about his wristwatch: "From Cartier's to a Mexican pawnshop. That's my story in brief". While remaining likable, Boyer plays an unapologetic, manipulative scoundrel, which is not an easy feat, and I honestly can’t think of anyone who could pull it off better. “Georges” is calm and cool on the outside when he has to be, yet Boyer vividly shows us this man’s inner turmoil. Some key examples are how he pretends to be lonely to “Emmy” in the hotel lobby, the way he subtly begins to soften and crack in the Mexican church, the shifting emotions that flood his face watching “Emmy” sleep in the back of the car through the rearview mirror, or his moving reaction when saying “thanks” to “Emmy” in the hotel. Boyer’s delicately nuanced, understated acting shows countless facets of “Georges”, making him sympathetically human and utterly fascinating. It’s a truly outstanding performance, and one of Boyer’s best.
French-born Charles Boyer’s deep voice, French accent, bedroom eyes, and hypnotic charm turned him into an international Hollywood heartthrob known as one of the silver screen's "great lovers". His first breakthrough came opposite Claudette Colbert in 1935's "Private Worlds", which he followed playing love interest to top stars such as Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo before taking on his most famous role as the romantic, cunning, and brooding jewel thief "Pepe le Moko" in 1938's "Algiers" opposite Hedy Lamarr. His suave sophistication left audiences swooning, and his powers of seduction were so strong that his performance served as the initial inspiration for Warner Brothers' stereotypically (now regarded as offensive) French skunk cartoon character "Pepé Le Pew” (ironic considering Boyer established the French Research Foundation for Hollywood to present truer representations of French culture on screen). The 1940s saw more Boyer signature roles, including "Georges" in "Hold Back the Dawn", "Duc de Praslin” in 1944’s "All This and Heaven Too", and perhaps his best remembered role today, as “Gregory Anton” in 1944’s “Gaslight". You can read more about the life and career of four-time Oscar nominated Charles Boyer in my post on that classic, as well as the post on “Red-Headed Woman”.
Giving a spectacular performance is Olivia de Havilland as “Emmy Brown”, the sweet, plain schoolteacher who falls for “Georges’” charms. A major reason this film is so enthralling is de Havilland’s layered performance as a woman who sexually and romantically awakens. Her truthfulness at letting “Emmy’s” internal struggles unfold before our eyes is astonishing. Take the scene on the phone with "Mr. MacAdams” and just after it, until she drives away. One must remember that in reality, there’s no one on the other end of the phone, though de Havilland's fluctuating emotions read as though she’s spontaneously reacting to someone's voice. The myriad of emotions she displays of longing, love, sorrow, and even a hint of eroticism are mesmerizing. She's just as powerful all through the film, be it exhilarated by the experience of being in love, or devastated by reality. Her work earned her Best Actress Oscar and New York Film Critics Circle Award nominations and is a perfect illustration of why she was considered one of the greatest actresses of the 1940s.
Under contract to Warner Brothers at the time, de Havilland was currently a popular star and ingénue. Having begun her acting career playing Shakespeare on stage, she wasn’t happy being pigeonholed into playing romantic heroines (though for a time, she enjoyed what she called “decorative” roles opposite Errol Flynn). By “Hold Back the Dawn”, she was at the start of a fight (which ended in court) with Warners over better roles. Brackett and Wilder wrote “Hold Back the Dawn” specifically for her, though Warners rarely let her work at other studios. Luckily, the studio wanted Paramount star Fred MacMurray for a film, so they exchanged him for de Havilland. Her "Hold Back the Dawn" Oscar nomination was her second (her first was for “Gone with the Wind”), which she lost to her sister Joan Fontaine (who won for Alfred Hitchcock’s “Suspicion”), which most likely added fuel to an ongoing feud between the siblings that began in childhood. De Havilland won her first Oscar a few years later for another Leisen film, 1946's "To Each His Own" (written by Brackett and Jacques Théry), and she always named Leisen as one of her favorite directors. You can read more about the life and career of Olivia de Havilland in my post on the film for which she won a second Best Actress Oscar, “The Heiress”, as well as my posts on "Gone with the Wind", "The Adventures of Robin Hood", a tribute to her on the day she died (which you can read by clicking HERE), and a bit more about her and Fontaine in my post on “Rebecca”.
The third star of “Hold Back the Dawn” is Paulette Goddard who plays “Anita Dixon”, “George’s” swindling, conniving, former dance partner who’s still in love with him and ready to rekindle their romance. As she tells him "All those years with all the others I've shut my eyes and thought of you. I want to keep them open once again". Goddard excelled at playing sassy, tough women, and brings a playful, street-smart, wicked strength and sensitivity to “Anita”. A no-good gal from the wrong side of the tracks and proud of it, "Anita" may have holes in her shoes, but she knows how to handle a man. The light tone Goddard projects when telling “Georges” she threw a bowl of chili on the man she was with and ran away says so much about this woman, as does the jealous, condescending way she makes fun of "Emmy" when reading her letter about the chintz curtains, or revealing a soft spot for “Georges” recalling the way he used to hold her when they danced. Goddard’s chemistry with Boyer is smoldering hot, and in her scene with “Emmy”, she is nonchalant evil incarnate. “Anita” is bad, beautiful, and brassy, and Goddard makes her delicious.
Paulette Goddard found fame in 1936 playing opposite Charles Chaplin in "Modern Times", and three films later signed with Paramount, which began her rise to become one of the top stars of the early 1940s. On “Hold Back the Dawn” (as with many of her films), she worked with dialogue coach Phyllis Seaton (who reportedly helped de Havilland on this film as well). Goddard was evidently very nervous during the shoot, as de Havilland recounted in the book "Mitchell Leisen: Hollywood Director": "Paulette was so very nervous I felt sorry for her. I was nervous too, but nothing like this. When we did our scene together, Polly’s [Paulette’s] upper lip was trembling so badly I was afraid it would show on the film". Thankfully, it doesn't. Goddard worked again with Leisen on 1945's "Kitty", giving what many consider one of her best performances. After the 1940s, she only appeared in a handful of films and TV shows. You can read more about the life and career of Paulette Goddard in my post on "The Women".
Walter Abel plays American Department of Immigration Officer “Inspector Hammock”, and brings the character to life by striking a perfect balance of authority, steadfastness, and kindness, grounding the film's moral and legal conflicts. "Hammock" could easily have been a one note stereotype, but thanks to Abel (and Leisen), he is anything but. Abel adds a delightful personality, such as when he invites himself to have some Boston baked beans with a slice of salt pork with the refugees, sarcastically asking “Anita” questions about her husband, or eagerly questioning “Emmy”. Abel’s performance is definitely part of what makes “Hold Back the Dawn” engrossing entertainment.
After graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Minnesota-born Walter Abel took to the stage, appeared in the 1918 silent film "Out of a Clear Sky”, and made his Broadway debut in 1919's “Forbidden”. With a very successful and steady Broadway career through 1936, RKO Pictures spotted him in the 1934 play “Merrily We Roll Along”, signed him, and gave him the lead in his fourth film, as “D'Artagnan" in their 1935 film version of "The Three Musketeers". After a couple more leading film roles, he began playing second leads and important character parts, and became a reliable Hollywood supporting player. As such, he's a face classic movie watchers might know, for he appeared in nearly 60 films and 30 TV shows, including the films "Holiday Inn", "Fury", "So Proudly We Hail", "13 Rue Madeleine", "Mr, Skeffington”, "Raintree County", two more by Leisen ("Arise My Love" and "Dream Girl"), and his final, 1984's "Grace Quigley" opposite Katharine Hepburn. He was married once, until his wife's death. Walter Abel died in 1987 at the age of 88.
In addition to Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Actress, Screenplay, and Cinematography, "Hold Back the Dawn" also earned Academy Award nominations for Best Art Direction (Hans Dreier, Robert Usher, Sam Comer), and Best Musical Score (Victor Young).
This week’s film is a vastly underrated, perfectly made, overlooked gem that will take you on a surprisingly gripping, highly moving, and very engaging ride. Enjoy the fabulous “Hold Back the Dawn”!
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Sounds amazing!!!
Wonderful insight on a movie that I didn't know about. Love the cockroach story...
Fabulous analysis Jay. The film and you belong to the Smithsonian!