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Hold Back the Dawn

  • 19411941
  • PassedPassed
  • 1h 56m
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
2.5K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
Olivia de Havilland, Charles Boyer, and Paulette Goddard in Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
  • Drama
  • Romance
Stopped in Mexico by U.S. Immigration, Georges Iscovescu hopes to get into the country by marrying a citizen.Stopped in Mexico by U.S. Immigration, Georges Iscovescu hopes to get into the country by marrying a citizen.Stopped in Mexico by U.S. Immigration, Georges Iscovescu hopes to get into the country by marrying a citizen.
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
2.5K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Mitchell Leisen
  • Writers
    • Charles Brackett
    • Billy Wilder
    • Ketti Frings(story "Memo to a Movie Producer")
  • Stars
    • Charles Boyer
    • Olivia de Havilland
    • Paulette Goddard
Top credits
  • Director
    • Mitchell Leisen
  • Writers
    • Charles Brackett
    • Billy Wilder
    • Ketti Frings(story "Memo to a Movie Producer")
  • Stars
    • Charles Boyer
    • Olivia de Havilland
    • Paulette Goddard
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 35User reviews
    • 29Critic reviews
    • 79Metascore
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 6 Oscars
      • 1 win & 7 nominations total

    Photos43

    Charles Boyer and Paulette Goddard in Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
    Mitchell Leisen in Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
    Veronica Lake in Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
    Olivia de Havilland in Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
    Charles Boyer, Kitty Kelly, and Francisco Marán in Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
    Charles Boyer in Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
    Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
    Charles Boyer and Micheline Cheirel in Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
    Charles Boyer in Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
    Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
    Hold Back the Dawn (1941)
    Olivia de Havilland and Charles Boyer in Hold Back the Dawn (1941)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Charles Boyer
    Charles Boyer
    • Georges Iscovescuas Georges Iscovescu
    Olivia de Havilland
    Olivia de Havilland
    • Emmy Brownas Emmy Brown
    Paulette Goddard
    Paulette Goddard
    • Anita Dixonas Anita Dixon
    Victor Francen
    Victor Francen
    • Van Den Lueckenas Van Den Luecken
    Walter Abel
    Walter Abel
    • Inspector Hammockas Inspector Hammock
    Curt Bois
    Curt Bois
    • Bonboisas Bonbois
    Rosemary DeCamp
    Rosemary DeCamp
    • Berta Kurzas Berta Kurz
    Eric Feldary
    Eric Feldary
    • Josef Kurzas Josef Kurz
    Nestor Paiva
    Nestor Paiva
    • Floresas Flores
    Eva Puig
    • Lupitaas Lupita
    Micheline Cheirel
    Micheline Cheirel
    • Christineas Christine
    Madeleine Lebeau
    Madeleine Lebeau
    • Annias Anni
    Billy Lee
    Billy Lee
    • Tonyas Tony
    Mikhail Rasumny
    Mikhail Rasumny
    • Mechanicas Mechanic
    Charles Arnt
    Charles Arnt
    • Mr. MacAdamsas Mr. MacAdams
    Arthur Loft
    Arthur Loft
    • Mr. Elvestadas Mr. Elvestad
    Mitchell Leisen
    Mitchell Leisen
    • Dwight Saxonas Dwight Saxon
    Norman Ainsley
    • Waiter with Trayas Waiter with Tray
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Mitchell Leisen
    • Writers
      • Charles Brackett
      • Billy Wilder
      • Ketti Frings(story "Memo to a Movie Producer")
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit
    Romanian gigolo Georges Iscovescu is trying to get into the United States to become a citizen, it the land of opportunity even in his line of work. Because of the visa requirement, he instead travels to Tijuana, Mexico to cross into the States via the land border, not realizing that this situation has its own obstacles, namely the quota system per country, and Romanians have up to an eight year wait. In joining the queue in Tijuana, he ends up at the Hotel Esperanza, which houses many of those in his similar situation, some of those others who have their own story in trying to become American citizens. In running into an old colleague he met in Europe, the former Polish-Australian Anita Dixon now divorced US citizen Mrs. Shaughnessy - she a female version of him - he decides to do what she did to become a US citizen: get married to an American, Mr. Shaughnessy whom she quickly divorced after getting her citizenship. After a few missteps in finding an American to marry, Georges sets his sights on schoolteacher Emmy Brown, a woman naive in the affairs of the heart, she in Mexico with her class on a field trip. What happens between Georges and Emmy is affected by: the presence of Mr. Hammock, a US immigration inspector who is trying to clamp down on marriages of convenience, which are illegal in terms of gaining US citizenship; the presence of Mrs. Shaughnessy, who will do whatever is required to ply her trade with him, the two of them together whom she sees as the perfect match in being the same; and Georges' own ideas of what best to with Emmy. —Huggo
    • deception
    • hollywood california
    • female teacher
    • pre world war two
    • cynicism
    • 87 more
    • Plot summary
    • Add synopsis
    • Taglines
      • Three great stars in the story of love...coldly conceived from a man's need, and a woman's desire! (print ad - Lubbock Morning Avalanche - Midway Theatre - Lubbock, Texas - June 14, 1944)
    • Genres
      • Drama
      • Romance
    • Certificate
      • Passed
    • Parents guide
      • Add content advisory

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The original script included an early scene where Charles Boyer talks to a cockroach in his room. Boyer dismissed the scene as idiotic and convinced director Mitchell Leisen to delete it; screenwriters Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett were so incensed at Leisen for giving in, they resolved to direct and produce their own movies from then on.
    • Goofs
      When Anita is sitting on Georges' lap at the typewriter, a moving shadow of the boom microphone can be seen in the mirror behind them.
    • Quotes

      Anita Dixon: All those years with all the others, I've shut my eyes and thought of you.

    • Alternate versions
      Released prints for the Latin American markets included on-screen credits for technical advisers Padre Canseco, Ernesto A. Romero, and assistant director Francisco Alonso.
    • Connections
      Featured in Discovering Film: Olivia de Havilland (2015)
    • Soundtracks
      La Marseillaise
      (1792) (uncredited)

      Music by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle

      Played by the band during the celebration near the end

    User reviews35

    Review
    Top review
    9/10
    Send these ,the homeless,tempest-tost to me/I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
    How can you be French and not love this film? First the lead is French;and in a small supporting part,there is Victor Francen,one of Julien Duvivier's ("La Fin Du Jour ",1939) and Abel Gance's ("J'accuse" 1918 and 1937) favorite actors.Plus "La Marseillaise " in the final sequences.Plus Olivia De Havilland who has been living in Paris for years.Except for Bertrand Tavernier,most of FRench critics do not speak highly of Mitchell Leisen's overlooked gem.

    This is the kind of superior melodrama I love.Olivia De Havilland is one of the greatest actresses of all time,one of those who never think twice when it comes to playing demeaning parts.She is so moving,so tender and so endearing that beauty Paulette Goddard almost leaves me indifferent.And I wonder why Boyer...

    The very structure of the film is highly original,being a long flashback,the hero telling his story (perhaps too much voice over) to a director to earn money (but we will know why in the last minutes )because he thinks all his trials can make a great film!Truth can be stranger than fiction cause he is in a film himself! The subject of the movie is still topical today when you see so many people leaving their country for the wealthy ones (not only America:in France ,Russians and others are actually fighting to get French citizenship).For that matter,one of the peaks is when Victor Francen declaims Emma Lazarus's poem which is graven on a tablet within the pedestal on which the Statue of Liberty stands.There are subplots and Mitchell Leisen's talent manages to make them as interesting as the three leads .You may remember the lady who wants his baby to be an American and the way she makes her dream come true,maybe more than Boyer/Havilland's honeymoon.

    A honeymoon that takes them to an old Mexican village where they go to mass,with a candle in their hand.A scene that recalls Murnau's "daybreak" .

    Emmy (De Havilland) is a woman who has never known love.She really wants to hold back the dawn ,to make her dream longer than the night.She gave all she had and she 's so altruistic she even returns good for evil.When she realizes that she's through with her pursuit of happiness,she simply puts her glasses.

    I had seen Leisen's film when I was still a child.I saw it last night.With the same pleasure.
    helpful•33
    1
    • dbdumonteil
    • Jan 18, 2007

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • September 26, 1941 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • Spanish
      • Latin
      • French
      • German
    • Also known as
      • Ensenada
    • Filming locations
      • Paramount Ranch - 2813 Cornell Road, Agoura, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Paramount Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 56 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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