''Another Dawn'' (also known as ''Caesar's Wife'') is a 1937 American film melodrama directed by

William Dieterle William Dieterle (July 15, 1893 – December 9, 1972) was a German-born actor and film director who emigrated to the United States in 1930 to leave a worsening political situation. He worked in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood primarily a ...

and starring

Errol Flynn Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian-American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Olivia ...

and

Kay Francis Kay Francis (born Katharine Edwina Gibbs; January 13, 1905 – August 26, 1968) was an American stage and film actress. After a brief period on Broadway in the late 1920s, she moved to film and achieved her greatest success between 1930 an ...

. It is based on

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 ...

's 1919 play '' Caesar's Wife''. The film received dismissive reviews.

Plot

Colonel John Wister ( Ian Hunter) is in charge of a post in the British desert colony of Dickit. While on leave in England he meets and falls in love with the beautiful American Julia Ashton (

), whose aviator fiancé disappeared in his plane and presumably died. Although Julia does not love John, she likes him and agrees to his marriage proposal. John takes Julia to Dickit, where she meets John's best friend, Captain Denny Roark (

), and Denny's sister, Grace (

Frieda Inescort Frieda Inescort (born Frieda Wrightman, 29 June 1901 – 26 February 1976) was a Scottish-born actress best known for creating the role of Sorel Bliss in Noël Coward's play ''Hay Fever'' on Broadway. She also played the shingled lady in Joh ...

), who is secretly in love with John. Denny reminds Julia of her dead fiancé and the two of them fall in love. John discovers this; although he would give her a divorce, he knows that she is too decent to leave him. A subplot involves Private Wilkins, guilty of cowardice, given a second chance by the Colonel and abused by the other enlisted men, who present him with a box full of

white feather The white feather is a widely recognised propaganda symbol. It has, among other things, represented cowardice or conscientious pacifism; as in A. E. W. Mason's 1902 book, '' The Four Feathers''. In Britain during the First World War it was of ...

s. On an expedition led by Roark, Wilkins “picks up his white feathers” and dies defending his comrades. An uprising by local Arabs means that one of the soldiers must fly a suicidal bombing mission. Denny volunteers, but as he is saying good bye to Julia, John takes off instead, sacrificing his life so that his best friend and wife can be together.

Cast

as Julia Ashton Wister *

as Capt. Denny Roark * Ian Hunter as Col. John Wister *

as Grace Roark *

Herbert Mundin Herbert Thomas Mundin (21 August 1898 – 5 March 1939) was an English character actor. He was frequently typecast in 1930s Hollywood films like ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' as an older cheeky eccentric, a type helped by his jowled features ...

as Wilkins, Col. Wister's Orderly * G. P. Huntley as Lord Alden * Billy Bevan as Pte. Hawkins * Clyde Cook as Sgt. Murphy * Richard Powell as Pte. Henderson * Kenneth Hunter as Sir Charles Benton *

Mary Forbes Mary Forbes (born Ethel Louise Young; 1 January 1883 – 22 July 1974) was a British-American film actress, based in the United States in her latter years, where she died. She appeared in more than 130 films between 1919 and 1958.

as Lady Lynda Benton *

Eily Malyon Eily Malyon (born Eily Sophie Lees-Craston; 30 October 1879 – 26 September 1961) was an English character actress from about 1900 to the 1940s. She had a stage career in Britain, Australia and America before moving to Hollywood to perfo ...

as Mrs. Farnold

Production

Development

Somerset Maugham's play ''Caesar's Wife'' was first performed in 1919, starring

C. Aubrey Smith Sir Charles Aubrey Smith (21 July 1863 – 20 December 1948) was an English Test cricketer who became a stage and film actor, acquiring a niche as the officer-and-gentleman type, as in the first sound version of ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' (1937) ...

. It concerned Sir Arthur Little, a British consulate agent in Cairo, who married a 19-year-old wife, Violet. Violet likes Little but falls in love with his private secretary, Ronald Perry. The play was filmed in 1928 as ''Infatuation,'' starring

Corinne Griffith Corinne Griffith (née Griffin; November 21, 1894 – July 13, 1979) was an American film actress, producer, author and businesswoman. Dubbed "The Orchid Lady of the Screen," she was widely regarded as one of the most beautiful actresses of the ...

. Warners bought the rights to ''Caesar's Wife'' in late 1935. Errol Flynn had just impressed the studio with his performance in ''Captain Blood,'' and he was announced as the male lead of ''Caesar's Wife'' in February 1936. In March, it was announced Flynn and

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her pe ...

would co-star in ''Another Dawn'' and that the film would be set in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

, with

Laird Doyle Laird Doyle (1907–1936) was an American screenwriter.Brown p.76 Doyle was under contract to Warner Brothers during the mid-1930s, before his sudden death at the age of twenty-nine. One of his final films was the British comedy '' Strangers on H ...

, who had written ''Dangerous'', doing the script. Doyle would receive an original story credit for the film, with no attribution being given to Maugham, although the film also dealt with a love triangle between two friends and the wife of one of them in a colonial outpost. Ian Hunter later joined as the third star. In June, Warners announced that the film would be one of their "special productions" for the following year. Flynn insisted that Warner Bros give him three months off after the production so he could travel to Borneo and take footage for a film based on a story of his own, ''The White Rajah''. Then Davis went on suspension, forcing Warners to find other actors to take over her roles.

Tallulah Bankhead Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (January 31, 1902 – December 12, 1968) was an American actress. Primarily an actress of the stage, Bankhead also appeared in several prominent films including an award-winning performance in Alfred Hitchcock's '' L ...

was announced for ''Another Dawn'' but ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' said this casting was "subject to change without notice." Eventually Warners decided to give the role to Kay Francis;

was to direct. "I don't do much in it," said Francis. "Things just happen about me. I am just a wife who has been unfortunate in love, as usual."

Shooting

Filming of ''Another Dawn'' took place on the Warners backlot at Lasky Mesa, in Calabasas, California, with action sequences also shot in Yuma, Arizona. Flynn apparently wrecked his ankle while playing tennis during the making of the film and required hospitalization. Francis also missed three days filming due to toxic poisoning. William Dieterle, in a memo to

Hal Wallis Harold Brent Wallis (born Aaron Blum Wolowicz; October 19, 1898 – October 5, 1986) was an American film producer. He is best known for producing ''Casablanca'' (1942), ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' (1938), and '' True Grit'' (1969), along wi ...

dated July 21, 1938, claimed he did not want to make the film but did it as a favour to producer Hal Wallis. Errol Flynn did not want to make the film either, and he did not like working for William Dieterle. He was also negotiating with Warner Bros. for a new contract and on one occasion refused to come out of his trailer. Filming began September 26, 1936, but Francis was exhausted after making back-to-back pictures, and it was showing up in the footage. Warners was interrupted when an exhausted Francis went in holiday in Europe in November 1936. It resumed and was completed in February 1937.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold Erich Wolfgang Korngold (May 29, 1897November 29, 1957) was an Austrian-born American composer and conductor. A child prodigy, he became one of the most important and influential composers in Hollywood history. He was a noted pianist and compo ...

was so pleased with his theme music for this production that he used it in the first movement of the

Violin Concerto A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...

he wrote some years later.Thomas et al. 1969, p. 57.

Reception

According to Warner Bros records, ''Another Dawn'' earned $572,000 domestically (in the US and Canada) and $473,000 overseas. Generally, critical reviews were dismissive, saying that the film was mainly notable for its "haunting score" rather than its actors or story. In her September 1, 1937, review for

Macleans ''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian persp ...

, Ann Ross observed that the film is “an oid-fashioned problem drama, presenting Kay Francis in the usual set of mournful predicaments, the usual outfit of wonderful clothes. She… marries Colonel John Wister (Ian Hunter), assuring him that “every woman who is honest with herself knows that she can only love once.” She goes with him to a desert outpost where she meets Captain Denny Roark (Errol Flynn), and recognizes at once that every woman who is honest with herself knows that it’s possible to make a mistake. Things intensify rapidly, what with stifled passion, fighting Arabs and raging siroccos. In the end Colonel Wister flies away on a suicide mission, leaving the lovers facing another dawn. There’s nothing very new about Miss Francis’ latest picture except the star’s wardrobe. Even in the middle of an Arabian sandstorm, she’s still the screen’s best-dressed woman.”

Follow-up

In 1939 Warners announced Flynn and

Geraldine Fitzgerald Geraldine Mary Fitzgerald (November 24, 1913 – July 17, 2005) was an Irish actress and a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame. In 2020, she was listed at number 30 on ''The Irish Times'' list of Ireland's greatest film actors. Early li ...

would star in ''The Outpost,'' adapted from ''Caesar's Wife'' by Somerset Maugham and directed by

Michael Curtiz Michael Curtiz ( ; born Manó Kaminer; since 1905 Mihály Kertész; hu, Kertész Mihály; December 24, 1886 April 10, 1962) was a Hungarian-American film director, recognized as one of the most prolific directors in history. He directed cla ...

. Eventually announcements stated that Flynn had been replaced by

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one o ...

. Warners was advertising the film as late as 1941, but apparently it was never made."Warner Bros. stories listed: Million dollars worth of plots on hand for films to be made in 1941." ''Los Angeles Times'', January 3, 1941, p. 10.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Behlmer, Rudy, ed. ''Inside Warner Bros (1935-1951)''. Cambridge, Ontario, Canada: Fireside, 1987. . * Bret, David. ''Errol Flynn: Satan's Angel''. London: Anova Books, 2004. . * Kear, Lynn and John Rossman.''Kay Francis: A Passionate Life and Career''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co. 2006. . * Thomas, Tony, Rudy Behlmer and Clifford McCarty. ''The Complete Films of Errol Flynn''. New York: Citadel Press, 1969. .

External links

''Another Dawn''
at

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

''Another Dawn''
at

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of A ...

* *
complete text of ''Caesar's Wife''
at

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital libr ...

{{William Dieterle 1937 films 1937 drama films American drama films American black-and-white films Films based on works by W. Somerset Maugham American films based on plays Films directed by William Dieterle Films scored by Erich Wolfgang Korngold Warner Bros. films Melodrama films Films set in England 1930s English-language films 1930s American films