Hold Back the Dawn **** (1941, Charles Boyer, Olivia de Havilland, Paulette Goddard, Victor Francen, Walter Abel, Curt Bois) – Classic Movie Review 4,180

There’s no holding back the witty 1941 vintage romantic comedy film Hold Back the Dawn, with Charles Boyer and Olivia de Havilland on their best form.

Happily, there is no holding back director Mitchell Leisen’s marvellous 1941 vintage romantic comedy film Hold Back the Dawn, based securely on a top-flight Billy Wilder-Charles Brackett screenplay (based on the story Memo to a Movie Producer by Ketti Frings) that is packed with some of their finest wit and wisdom. It was nominated for six Academy Awards but won none.

Two all-time great stars are on their best form — Charles Boyer as a foreign gigolo, Romanian-born Georges Iscovescu, and Olivia de Havilland as Emmy Brown, the American schoolmarm he pretends to fall for in order to marry her so that he can obtain the US citizenship he needs to get him through US immigration at the Mexican border.

Director Leisen handles this Paramount Pictures movie beautifully, and (in an amusing post-modern touch) also appears as Mr Saxon, the Hollywood film director to whom Iscovescu (Boyer) tells the film’s whole story on a Paramount Pictures studio set to earn some quick bucks. 

Veronica Lake has a walk-on as a film actress on the phone at the beginning of the movie.

The song ‘My Boy, My Boy’ by Frank Loesser/ music by Fred Spielman was written for the film but not sung, and instead incorporated into the score.

Allegedly, Boyer thought an early scene where he had to talk to a cockroach in his room was idiotic and convinced Leisen to cut it, incensing Wilder and Brackett so much that they decided to direct and produce their scripts.

It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role (Olivia de Havilland), Best Writing, Screenplay (Billy Wilder, Charles Brackett), Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White (Hans Dreier, Robert Usher, Sam Comer), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (Leo Tover), and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture (Victor Young).

Also in the cast are Paulette Goddard, Victor Francen, Walter Abel, Curt Bois, Rosemary DeCamp, Eric Feldary, Nestor Paiva, Micheline Cheirel, Madeleine LeBeau, Mikhail Rasumny, Charles Arnt, Arthur Loft, Norman Ainsley, George Anderson, Gertrude Astor, Leon Belasco, Karin Booth, Alden Stephen Chase, Russ Clark, Chester Clute, Frank Dee, Gordon De Main, Brian Donlevy, Donald Douglas, William D Faralla, Martin Faust, Edward Fielding, Antonio Filauri, James Flavin, John Hamilton, Mitchell Ingraham, Soledad Jimênez, Kitty Kelly, Veronica Lake, Harold Landon, Mala, Francisco Marin, Buddy Messinger, Ella Neal, Mrs Wilfrid North, Jean Phillips, June Pickerell, Daniel Rea, Henry Rocquemore, Tony Toux, Placido Sequeiros, Harry Shannon, Jesus Topete, Carlos Villarias, Pauline Wagner, Richard Webb, June Wilkins, and Sonny Boy Williams.

Running time: 116 minutes.

Release date: September 26, 1941.

To Each His Own (1946) is the first of de Havilland’s two Best Actress Oscars, the other being for The Heiress. She was also nominated for Gone with the Wind (1939) [Best Supporting Actress}, Hold Back the Dawn (1941) and The Snake Pit (1948).

The cast

The cast are Charles Boyer as Georges Iscovescu, Olivia de Havilland as Emmy Brown, Paulette Goddard as Anita Dixon, Victor Francen as Van Den Luecken, Walter Abel as Inspector Hammock, Curt Bois as Bonboi, Rosemary DeCamp as Berta Kurz, Eric Feldary as Josef Kurz, Nestor Paiva as Red Flore, Eva Puig as Lupita, Micheline Cheirel as Christine, Madeleine Lebeau as Annie, Billy Lee as Tony, Mikhail Rasumny as Car Mechanic, Charles Arnt as Mr John MacAdams, Arthur Loft as Mr Elvestad, Mitchell Leisen as Mr Saxon, Veronica Lake as Movie actress, Norman Ainsley, George Anderson, Gertrude Astor, Leon Belasco, Karin Booth, Alden Stephen Chase, Russ Clark, Chester Clute, Frank Dee, Gordon De Main, Brian Donlevy, Donald Douglas, William D Faralla, Martin Faust, Edward Fielding, Antonio Filauri, James Flavin, John Hamilton, Mitchell Ingraham, Soledad Jimênez, Kitty Kelly, Veronica Lake, Harold Landon, Mala, Francisco Marin, Buddy Messinger, Ella Neal, Mrs Wilfrid North, Jean Phillips, June Pickerell, Daniel Rea, Henry Rocquemore, Tony Toux, Placido Sequeiros, Harry Shannon, Jesus Topete, Carlos Villarias, Pauline Wagner, Richard Webb, June Wilkins, and Sonny Boy Williams.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4,180

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert