Charles Boyer and Olivia de Havilland star in "Hold Back the Dawn," a 1941 film also starring Paulette Goddard, Walter Abel, and Rosemary de Camp.
This film is an A all the way - the cast, the script by Wilder and Brackett, and direction by Mitchell Liesen, all great.
The story is about immigrants stuck in Mexico as they wait to get into the United States, most of them living at the Hotel Esperanza. There's a quota, and depending on what country you're from, the quota can mean a long wait.
"Hold Back the Dawn" is told in flashback, beginning with Boyer, as Roumanian Georges Iscovescu, approaching someone at Paramount, trying to sell his story. It begins with Iscovescu, a gigolo, in Mexico, hoping to get into the U.S. and being told by the immigration consul (Walter Abel) that he has to wait.
His old partner in crime, Anita (Paulette Goddard) shows up -- the two have quite a love 'em or leave 'em operation going. When schoolteacher Emmy Brown shows up with some students on a tour, he sweeps her off her feet and marries her so he can have citizenship. The idea is to then dump Emmy and meet Anita back in New York where they can take up their scam again.
Georges can't return to the states with Emmy immediately, there's a waiting period, and Georges plans to go to her home town and let her down easy before going to New York. But she shows up on a school break to spend the week with him.
De Havilland is wonderful as a the pretty, naive Emmy, who falls in love with Georges. As the cold Georges, Boyer is very convincing as a man who turns the charm on and off like a faucet, but as he gets to know Emmy, he starts to thaw. Goddard is vivacious and beautiful as Anita, in love with Georges herself and not wanting anyone else in the way.
In a supporting role, Rosemary Camp is Bertha Kurz, a pregnant woman determined that her child will be born in the United States. An underrated actress, DeCamp was a TV mainstay through the '70s and did many appearances in the '80s as well. Accents were her specialty. She turns in a lovely performance here. Walter Abel is good as the harried counsel.
The Mexican town and beat-up hotel make for a perfect atmosphere where people exist while waiting to begin their lives in the U.S. A beautiful film with a script by a man who knew well what it meant to be an immigrant, Billy Wilder. A little off the beaten track from his more usual fare, but no less brilliant.
This film is an A all the way - the cast, the script by Wilder and Brackett, and direction by Mitchell Liesen, all great.
The story is about immigrants stuck in Mexico as they wait to get into the United States, most of them living at the Hotel Esperanza. There's a quota, and depending on what country you're from, the quota can mean a long wait.
"Hold Back the Dawn" is told in flashback, beginning with Boyer, as Roumanian Georges Iscovescu, approaching someone at Paramount, trying to sell his story. It begins with Iscovescu, a gigolo, in Mexico, hoping to get into the U.S. and being told by the immigration consul (Walter Abel) that he has to wait.
His old partner in crime, Anita (Paulette Goddard) shows up -- the two have quite a love 'em or leave 'em operation going. When schoolteacher Emmy Brown shows up with some students on a tour, he sweeps her off her feet and marries her so he can have citizenship. The idea is to then dump Emmy and meet Anita back in New York where they can take up their scam again.
Georges can't return to the states with Emmy immediately, there's a waiting period, and Georges plans to go to her home town and let her down easy before going to New York. But she shows up on a school break to spend the week with him.
De Havilland is wonderful as a the pretty, naive Emmy, who falls in love with Georges. As the cold Georges, Boyer is very convincing as a man who turns the charm on and off like a faucet, but as he gets to know Emmy, he starts to thaw. Goddard is vivacious and beautiful as Anita, in love with Georges herself and not wanting anyone else in the way.
In a supporting role, Rosemary Camp is Bertha Kurz, a pregnant woman determined that her child will be born in the United States. An underrated actress, DeCamp was a TV mainstay through the '70s and did many appearances in the '80s as well. Accents were her specialty. She turns in a lovely performance here. Walter Abel is good as the harried counsel.
The Mexican town and beat-up hotel make for a perfect atmosphere where people exist while waiting to begin their lives in the U.S. A beautiful film with a script by a man who knew well what it meant to be an immigrant, Billy Wilder. A little off the beaten track from his more usual fare, but no less brilliant.