Hold Back the Dawn (1941)

Nominated for 6 Oscars
- 1 win & 7 nominations total

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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

They Don't Make 'em like this any more!

It is a sad reflection that many of the movies made so long ago still compare brilliantly with the best of today. "Hold Back the Dawn" is one of those - superbly put together by Billy Wilder & Charles Brackett, and with some of the finest acting of 1941. Outtanding are Charles Boyer, in what I feel is his best acting, and Olivia de Havilland who apparently had to go to Paramount to be appreciated (her two Oscar films were made there, and she was nominated also for this one!) is a standout. Paulette Goddard in a role almost written for her was very good, and the supporting cast was excellent. Migrants trying to get into the United States has always been a hot topic, but here it is treated sympathetically in a very informative way. I have to say the ending was not well done, and one gets the feeling all was not well somewhere.