Tomorrow We Live [At Dawn We Die] ** (1942, John Clements, Greta Gynt, Hugh Sinclair, Yvonne Arnaud, Godfrey Tearle) – Classic Movie Review 12,872

The 1942 wartime morale booster British film Tomorrow We Live [At Dawn We Die] stars John Clements, Greta Gynt, Hugh Sinclair and Yvonne Arnaud. It shows the French Resistance at work and the Germans shooting hostages in reprisal. 

Director George King’s 1942 wartime morale booster British film Tomorrow We Live [At Dawn We Die] is based on an original story by Dorothy Hope, and stars John Clements, Greta Gynt, Hugh Sinclair, Yvonne Arnaud, Godfrey Tearle, and Judy Kelley.

It is set in a small town in World War Two German-occupied France, and shows the French Resistance at work and the Germans shooting hostages in reprisal for acts of sabotage.

French villagers smuggle one of their number, young idealist Jean Baptiste (John Clements), by sea to Britain to reveal U-boat secrets. The Mayor (Godfrey Tearle)’s daughter Marie (Greta Gynt) helps Jean Baptiste (Clements) get away by masquerading as a friend of a German major (Hugh Sinclair).

Tomorrow We Live [At Dawn We Die] is a World War Two austerity production, in which the well-meaning fact-based story is realised cheaply with war economy studio exteriors and eager performances by a game Brit cast unconvincingly acting French.

It is an interesting curiosity, with many points of fascination, mostly the story, its brutal details and the cast.

Also in the cast are Bransby Williams, Karel Stepanek, F R Wendhausen, Allan Jeayes, Gabrielle Bruns, Margaret Yarde, David Keir, Anthony Holles, Olaf Olsen, D J Williams, John Salew, Walter Gotell, Victor Beaumont, Brefni O’Rorke, Gibb McLaughlin, Cot D’Ordan, Walter Hertner, Herbert Lom, Townsend Whitling, and Elwyn Brook-Jones.

It might have had an original wartime morale booster title in the UK, but the US release fancied the opposite pessimistic idea of At Dawn We Die. To be fair, there was already a 1942 American film Tomorrow We Live directed by Edgar G Ulmer, starring Ricardo Cortez, Jean Parker, Emmett Lynn and William Marshall. That was also known as The Man with a Conscience in the UK.

Nicholas Brodzsky is credited for the music, while the orchestration is credited to Roy Douglas, an English composer who probably wrote most or even all of the score. Roy Douglas claimed: ‘Brodsky was a so-called composer: I had actually composed entire film scores for him, which went under his name.’

The opening credits acknowledge ‘the official co-operation of General de Gaulle and the French National Committee’.

It had its premiere in London on November 25, 1942, was released in the US on March 20, 1943 and on April 5, 1943 in the UK.

Tomorrow We Live -At Dawn We Die] is directed by George King, runs 87 minutes, is made by British Aviation Pictures, is released by British Lion Film (UK) and Republic (US), is written by Anatole de Grunwald and Katherine Strueby, based on an original story by Dorothy Hope, is shot by Otto Heller, is produced by John Stafford, George King and S W Smith, is scored by Nicholas Brodszky, and designed by Norman G Arnold.

The cast are John Clements as Jean Baptiste, Godfrey Tearle as Mayor Pierre DuSchen, Hugh Sinclair as Major von Kleist, Greta Gynt as Marie DuSchen, Judy Kelly as Germaine Bertan, Yvonne Arnaud as Madame L Labouche, Karel Stepanek as Seitz, Bransby Williams as Matthieu, Fritz Wendhausen as Commandant Frissette, Allan Jeayes as Pogo, Gabrielle Brune as Madame Frissette, Margaret Yarde as Fauntel, David Keir as Jacquier, Anthony Holles as Stationmaster, Olaf Olsen as Sergeant Major, D J Williams as Boileau, John Salew as Marcel La Blanc, Walter Gotell as Hans, Victor Beaumont as Rabineau, Brefni O’Rorke as Moreau, Gibb McLaughlin as Dupont, Cot D’Ordan as Durand, Walter Hertner as Schultz, Herbert Lom as Kurtz, Townsend Whitling as Rougemont, and Elwyn Brook-Jones.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 12,872

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