Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 82: An Inconvenient Marriage

An interesting romance film that was nominated at the 1942 ceremony is up next. The majority of the film is narrated by Charles Boyer's character Georges Iscovescu who is pitching the film's story to a Paramount director. As we are told at the opening of the film this meeting between Georges and the director is how the making of the film came about however later it is incorporated as part of the story. Georges has come to America from his native Romania to try and escape the conflict of World War II however when he arrives U.S. immigration inform him that the numbers of Romanian immigrants have already been filled and he will have to stay in Mexico until there is room for him. Georges spends his time in a rundown Mexican hotel just by the border filled with other Europeans also waiting for their chance to become U.S. citizens, the hotel is also visited from time to time by immigration inspector Hammock who checks on the status of the immigrants. Later Georges meets his old dancing partner and lover Anita who has told him that she has married an older American man and that will fast track her over the border. Anita hatches a plan with Georges that he will marry an American woman and when they are both safely in America will both divorce their partners and be together. Georges then comes across naive teacher Emmy whose school bus has broken down trapping her and several pupils on the wrong side of the border. Georges steals a part of the bus thus forcing Emmy to stay in his hotel and for him to charm and later propose to her. Emmy and Georges are soon married however Hammock returns to the hotel and Georges realises that he will start asking her questions so he takes her off on an impromptu honeymoon. Inevitably Georges then starts to fall in love with her as they journey around the coast and stop in at a church to be blessed. They arrive back at the hotel where Anita realises that Georges won't go through with the plan so she reveals all to Emmy however when she is questioned by Hammock she lies and says she and Georges are in love. Georges stays in Mexico to get his papers in order but then he learns that Emmy was in an accident and crosses the border before it is legal for him to do so. He enters the hospital to see her but is soon tracked down by Hammock's men and runs to the studio to talk to the director who he had previously encountered in Mexico. The final part of the story is told by the director, after Hammock arrested Georges he took him back to Mexico, Georges learns that Anita has met another wealthy man who she plans to exploit. Finally, Hammock softens and tells Georges that he has fast-tracked his citizenship because he failed to report the earlier incident of Georges' escape and realises that Georges and Emmy's relationship is genuine.

I have to say one of the things I enjoyed most about Hold Back the Dawn is its narrative structure. By having the story being a narration by Georges we are intrigued to see how his and Emmy's story will end and how it will fit with this meeting at the studio. Although it is a bit soppy at times the romance between Georges and Emmy starts as a hoax but ends up being fairly genuine. As far as the acting goes Olivia De Havilland's performance as Emmy earned her an Oscar nomination and it was just about deserved as Emmy grows as a character throughout the film becoming tougher as she realises the extent of Georges' plans. Paulette Goddard is also enthralling as Anita the manipulative other woman and to some extent the film's villain. But it is Charles Boyer who anchors the whole film with a mix of charm and real emotion he makes Georges one of those characters who does horrible things but still seems likeable however he failed to even get a nomination for his performance. The film also had something to say about the lengths some immigrants will go to to get into America and the setting of the Mexican hotel feels cramped and somewhat unwelcoming. Overall this was a fairly engaging if overly sentimental romantic drama with undertones of social commentary.