Another Dawn

Well, I didn't have as violent a response as the first post I read, but "Another Dawn" is from another era and didn't survive it, trust me. It's all pip-pip, jolly good, and honor is all in this dated film starring the handsome Errol Flynn and the lovely Kay Francis. She's a widow who marries Flynn's commander, though she still mourns her late husband. When she meets Flynn, guess what, she finds she can love again. Yeah, like who couldn't. They're both too honorable to do much about it, though.

Most of the film takes place post-World War I in a Sahara outpost so there is lots of sand and some battles. Flynn is subdued in this, and Francis is radiant. Some of the dialogue is actually quite poetic - probably because they're quoting poems - and if it were in, say, The Rains Came, it would have worked very well - but it only adds to the melodrama in this film.

Films such as "Another Dawn" are interesting as artifacts of a lost time when, I suppose, people had stronger values and lived for the greater good. When it's a stronger script and production, of course, these marvelous qualities are worth revisiting, admiring, and feeling guilty about. Alas, however, nobility is not well served by "Another Dawn."

To see a lovely Kay Francis and a beautiful Errol Flynn share the pangs of romance in the dreamy sunsets of the Sahara is what this movie is all about. A great score by Erich Korngold whisks us along through their complex affair, romantic interludes and Flynn's courageous fight with the Arabs. The charms of the film have a faded edge, but I find this gives it a nostalgic appeal. Francis is wonderful to watch -- she's wistful, stylizes her performance with her usual grace, very appealingly. Flynn is a real handsome figure and gives an earnest performance, showing the conflicts of romancing is best friend and superior officer's wife. This is a pure movie movie -- to be watched for pleasure and the smile of nostalgia.

This is not the sort of movie you'd think it would be, as the film is set abroad and is about a British outpost. Considering this AND that the film stars Errol Flynn, you would expect that it would be an adventure film like LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER or CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE--and if so, you'd be wrong. The film is purely a romantic melodrama about a woman (Kay Francis) who marries a man he likes and respects (Ian Hunter) but eventually falls in love with suave and romantic Errol Flynn (and, in 1937, who WOULDN'T have fallen for Errol?!). The problem is exacerbated because Francis genuinely loves Hunter as a friend and Errol is loyal to Hunter because he's his commanding officer, but their glands won't be satisfied until they break the awful news to nice-guy Hunter. This is, overall, a very sappy and sticky movie. Some will no doubt like it, but the ardent and more "wussified" Flynn isn't as satisfying a character as he played in most of his other films. And, the plot itself seems very old fashioned and...well...silly. Not a bad film, but certainly a lesser film and one that is mostly of interest to those who want to see every film Flynn made--even the weaker ones.

Errol Flynn and Kay Francis star in this movie about love and adventure. Ian Hunter meets Kay first and promptly falls in love with her, even though she admits she doesn't love him. But he does convince her to marry him and move to where he lives and works, a British outpost in the desert. By this means, she meets his second-in-command and right-hand man Errol Flynn. At first she doesn't take to him, even though most of the female viewers have already at first sight. (But he took to her; that's without saying.) But his hearty laugh startles her as it's similar to someone she loved very much and lost. Then, she begins to see him in a new light and spends a lot of time with him, as husband Ian has to travel to trouble-shoot, etc. Therefore, Kay and Errol, well.... Errol and Kay's good looks and chemistry and the movie's mysterious and menacing locale uplifts the material. And, their love scenes together are very exotic and romantic, with them walking hand in hand and getting caught in the moment, kissing.... Even if you don't consider the leads your favorites, I think you'll agree that Errol Flynn and the lovely Kay Francis do make a very passionate couple, and that you'll enjoy 73 minutes of them.

Fine movie for what it is but 'what it is' won't be to everyone's tastes. Leonard Maltin's Film Guide calls it an adventure story but that's not really accurate. There's very little action in this film. This is a melodrama, a soaper even, as evidenced by the fact it stars Kay Francis. She was one of the queens of the melodrama in the '30s, often torn between two men as she is here. The plot is trite. Francis plays a woman who lost her pilot fiancé in an accident. She meets honorable and all-around-swell-guy Ian Hunter, who quickly falls in love with her and proposes. She marries him despite not being in love with him. Later she meets hotshot pilot Errol Flynn and, well, you can figure the rest. For his part, Flynn is as charming as ever and has good chemistry with Francis. The highlight of the film is the Erich Korngold score, which makes things seem more exciting than they ever really are. A nice production, great actors, and a beautiful score are nothing to dismiss. Still, how much you enjoy this will depend on how much you enjoy romantic melodramas from the 1930s, where everyone stares off at some point and recites a soliloquy like they're in a stage play.