Hold Back the Dawn

press release:

SUN., 9/18, 2 p.m.: HOLD BACK THE DAWN: USA | 1941 | 35mm | 115 min.

Director: Mitchell Leisen; Cast: Olivia de Havilland, Charles Boyer, Paulette Goddard

In one of the wittiest and most underrated romances of the 1940s, de Havilland is an American school teacher visiting Mexico who is seduced by gigolo Boyer, a European émigré desperate to cross the border into the U.S. Aided in his schemes by his lover (Goddard), Boyer’s plans are thwarted when he actually falls for de Havilland. The superb script is by the legendary writing team of Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett and director Leisen appears as himself in a very clever framing device.

Sunday Cinematheque at the Chazen: Kirk Douglas and Olivia de Havilland at 100!

For our Fall 2016 Sunday afternoon series at the Chazen Museum of Art, we will salute two legendary actors who turn 100 years-old in 2016. A force in Hollywood for over four decades, Olivia de Havilland (born July 1, 1916) distinguished herself as a contract player at Warner Bros. during the late 1930s and early 1940s, appearing as leading lady to Errol Flynn in several action spectaculars like Captain Blood. Later on at Paramount Studios, she won two Oscars for The Heiress and To Each His Own. A supporting player in a handful of late '40s features, Kirk Douglas quickly rose to the ranks of leading man and practically invented the notion of the anti-hero in such Hollywood features as Champion and Ace in the Hole. Later, Douglas formed his own powerful production company, Bryna, and appeared in some of the best-remembered films of the '50s and '60s, like Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory, The Vikings and Lonely are the Brave. Douglas 100th birthday will be observed in our regular venue, 4070 Vilas Hall, on December 11 with a newly restored version of the Douglas/Kubrick classic Spartacus.