Overlong melodrama with characters that are either unlikeable or bland. This easily could have been a half-an-hour shorter, but I'm not sure that would have helped. The scenes away from the little town (where most of the "action" takes place) are the best. Boyer is actually too good as the scoundrel; I was uncomfortable watching many of the scenes in which he pretended to be honorable. Finally, the ending is contrived in a way that subverts the overall big-budget style of the film. With a good scriptwriter, the elements that highlighted the immigration issues and longing for a better life would have lifted this movie into a more rarified stratosphere, but alas, that was not to be.
Review of Hold Back the Dawn
