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''The Hour Before the Dawn'' is a 1944 American
drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...
directed by
Frank Tuttle Frank Wright Tuttle (August 6, 1892 – January 6, 1963) was a Hollywood film director and writer who directed films from 1922 (''The Cradle Buster'') to 1959 (''Island of Lost Women''). Biography Frank Tuttle was educated at Yale University ...
starring
Franchot Tone Stanislaus Pascal Franchot Tone (February 27, 1905 – September 18, 1968) was an American actor, producer, and director of stage, film and television. He was a leading man in the 1930s and early 1940s, and at the height of his career was known ...
and
Veronica Lake Constance Frances Marie Ockelman (November 14, 1922 – July 7, 1973), known professionally as Veronica Lake, was an American film, stage, and television actress. Lake was best known for her femme fatale roles in film noirs with Alan Ladd ...
. It was based on the 1942 novel by
W. Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...
.


Plot

In 1923 in England, General Hetherton is instructing his grandson Jim to shoot a rifle. Jim's dog runs in the way and Jim accidentally kills him. The incident affects him deeply and he becomes a pacifist. Years later, at the commencement of World War II, Jim is headmaster at a school and has fallen in love with a young Austrian woman, Dora Bruckman, who works for his sister-in-law, May. He is unaware that Dora is a Nazi spy. She meets regularly with her supervisors in London, Mrs. Müller and Kurt van der Breughel, who are posing as Austrian refugees. Jim's brother Roger joins the Royal Air Force, but Jim applies for exemption from fighting. This is granted. Dora is ordered to provide German bombers with a bearing to a camouflaged airfield using the headlights of May's car. She is caught in the act by May's son Tommy, but claims May must have left the lights on. Dora has to turn them off before the bombers arrive, so the airfield is saved. Jim and Dora marry to save her from being removed from the district. Kurt plans to use Jim in an effort to convince influential English people to consider capitulation. He sends a fake letter to Jim, asking him to join an effort to educate refugee children, a task Jim is eager to accept. When they meet, Kurt suggests to Jim that the Germans might consider negotiating terms for peace with Britain. Jim tells Dora afterwards that Kurt spoke more like a German than a Dutchman. Worried, Dora telephones van der Breughel and recommends bombing the airfield that night. She pours gasoline over a hay wagon. Tommy shows up unexpectedly and, undetected, sees what she is doing. She locks him in a room, but when he blurts out that he knows what she is up to, she pulls out a pistol. Just then, she hears the bombers approaching and rushes out to set fire to the hay. While Roger gets confirmation that Dora is a saboteur, Tommy escapes, encounters Jim, and tells him of his wife's betrayal. When Jim arrives home, Dora is packed and ready to leave. She admits to being a spy and then shoots him in the shoulder, before her gun jams. Jim kills her, just before Roger arrives. Afterward, Jim joins the Royal Air Force as a gunner.


Cast

*
Franchot Tone Stanislaus Pascal Franchot Tone (February 27, 1905 – September 18, 1968) was an American actor, producer, and director of stage, film and television. He was a leading man in the 1930s and early 1940s, and at the height of his career was known ...
as Jim Hertherton *
Veronica Lake Constance Frances Marie Ockelman (November 14, 1922 – July 7, 1973), known professionally as Veronica Lake, was an American film, stage, and television actress. Lake was best known for her femme fatale roles in film noirs with Alan Ladd ...
as Dora Bruckmann * John Sutton as Roger Hetherton *
Binnie Barnes Gertrude Maud Barnes (25 March 1903 – 27 July 1998), known professionally as Binnie Barnes, was an English actress whose career in films spanned from 1923 to 1973. Early life Barnes was born in Islington, London, the daughter of Rosa Enoy ...
as May Hetherton *
Henry Stephenson Henry Stephenson (born Harry Stephenson Garraway; 16 April 1871 – 24 April 1956) was a British actor. He portrayed friendly and wise gentlemen in many films of the 1930s and 1940s. Among his roles were Sir Joseph Banks in ''Mutiny on the Bou ...
as General Hetherton *
Philip Merivale Philip Merivale (2 November 1886 – 12 March 1946) was an English film and stage actor and screenwriter. Life and career Merivale was born in Rehutia, Manickpur, India, to railway engineer Walter Merivale (1855–1902) and Emma Magd ...
as Sir Leslie Buchanon *
Nils Asther Nils Anton Alfhild Asther (17 January 1897 – 19 October 1981)Swedi ...
as Kurt van der Breughel *
Edmund Breon Edmund Breon (born Iver Edmund de Breon MacLaverty; 12 December 1882 – 24 June 1953) was a Scottish film and stage actor. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1907 and 1952. Life and career Born in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Br ...
as Freddy Merritt *
David Leland David Leland (born 20 April 1947) is an English film director, screenwriter and actor who came to international fame with his directorial debut '' Wish You Were Here'' in 1987. Life He initially trained as an actor at Central School of Speech ...
as Tommy Hetherton * Aminta Dyne as Hertha Parkins


Production

The novel was published in 1942. Film rights were bought by Paramount while the project was in galley form, prior to Pearl Harbor. When the book was published, it became a best seller, but Paramount were reluctant to make a film based on it because it was about a conscientious objector - something that was felt to be palatable to the American public while the USA was neutral, but not after. However, after time passed, executives began to feel the public would be sympathetic to a movie about a genuine objector, as it was one of the freedoms the Allies were fighting for.'Objector' Story for Screen. Daugherty, Frank. ''The Christian Science Monitor'', 18 June 1943 The movie was the first film produced by William Dozier, who had worked as a story editor at Paramount for a number of years. Shooting started in April 1943. Because of dim-out restrictions, night scenes were shot in
Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...
.


Reception

According to ''Diabolique'', the film "flopped at the box office, and Lake copped a lot of the blame. It wasn’t really her fault. Yes, she’s not very good, uncomfortable with an accent and not really capable of conveying too much depth, but lots of other people in the movie are even worse."


See also

*
List of American films of 1944 Below is a list of American films released in 1944. ''Going My Way'' won Best Picture at the 17th Academy Awards. The remaining four nominees were ''Double Indemnity'', ''Gaslight'', ''Since You Went Away'' and '' Wilson''. A B C D E-F ...


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hour Before the Dawn 1944 films 1940s war drama films American black-and-white films American aviation films American spy drama films American war drama films Battle of Britain films 1940s English-language films Films scored by Miklós Rózsa Films based on British novels Films based on works by W. Somerset Maugham Films directed by Frank Tuttle Films set in 1923 Paramount Pictures films Films with screenplays by Lesser Samuels 1940s spy drama films 1944 drama films 1940s American films English-language spy drama films English-language war drama films