Storm at Daybreak

I've been wanting burn a DVD of this film since I saw it about a year ago on TCM. Finally had the chance today. It's another Boleslavski film where every frame is art - see Fugitive Lovers. No one - not even Von Sternberg photographing Dietrich - took more care is setting the scene. Lighting, foreground, background, focus, all show a master's touch. Even the quick cuts of a second or less show the love affair of a man with his art. And just about every supporting villain in Hollywood is in it: C. Henry Gordon, Lucien Prival, Mischa Auer, Akim Tamiroff, Leonid Kinskey and Charles Halton (almost all uncredited). And not even mentioned in IMDb: J. Carroll Naish as an assassin. The rousing coach ride finale is a precursor to The Body Snatcher's and almost as good. Overall a schmaltzy Kay Francis vehicle made palatable by a great director. The film shows Boleslavski's versatility: here an epic versus Fugitive Lovers where almost everything happens on a bus. Too bad he died so early.

No shortage of crowds, dancing, and music in "Storm at Daybreak" from 1933. The film stars Kay Francis, Nils Asther, and Walter Huston.

After the Archduke Ferdinand is assassinated, in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, Dushan (Huston), the Serbian mayor a town, there to see the parade, sees Geza (Asther). He is a friend in the Hungarian army. Dushan wastes no time inviting him to his home. There, Geza meets Dushan's beautiful young wife (Francis).

Okay - Huston in peasant garb vs. Asther in uniform. Now, what do we think happens?

Today I think Huston's performance would be considered a bit over the top, though back then it was perfectly fine. He was a wonderful actor. Asther does a good job and is very handsome. Francis has very little to do except look longingly at Asther. Anyone would. There is a sympathetic portrayal of a soldier by Phillips Holmes.

Definite precode ending.

The movie was a little bit overhysterical and loud for me.

"Storm at Daybreak" SHOULD have been an exciting movie. After all, MGM put a lot of money and effort into this...going so far as borrowing one of the top stars of the day, Kay Francis, from Warner Brothers, to make this film. Although it has some good moments, however, it's a sluggishly paced and dull film.

The film begins on a very strong note, as the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife is recreated in a very realistic and graphic manner. This event led to the outbreak of WWI and the rest of the film is about the Serbians during this time. Mayor Dushon Radovic (Walter Huston) is a loyal servant of the Austrio-Hungarian Empire...but he also is worried about the mistreatment of his people by the hated Hungarians. So he tries to balance his duty with his patriotism. At the same time, his wife Irina (Kay Francis) has decided to take a much more active role in defending her Serbia by hiding wanted Serbs. At the same time, Captain Geza is trying to find these wanted men AND he's become captivated with the Mayor's wife.

The scenes between Geza and Irina should have been smoldering but instead were just dull...the root of the problem in the film. It should have looked more like a romance than it was...but instead just limped along to the ultimate finale.

Simmering tensions between the Serbs and Hungarians erupt into full-blown war following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Serbian mayor Radovic (Walter Huston) is friends with Hungarian military officer Captain Petery (Nils Asther), little knowing that the captain has fallen in love with the mayor's wife Irina (Kay Francis). As the vagaries of war swing the pendulum of power from one side to the other, those who occupy neutral ground suffer the most, and the love triangle threatens to destroy them all. Also featuring Phillips Holmes, Eugene Pallette, C. Henry Gordon, Jean Parker, Louise Closser Hale, Oscar Apfel, Margaret Dumont, Akim Tamiroff, and Mischa Auer.

While the sets, costumes and cinematography are all fine, the story is trite and boring. The ethnic clashes at the heart of WW1 are a worthy subject for film, but not when it simply serves as the garnish on a tepid love triangle plot. Huston is barely adequate, seeming too manic at times but not chewing the scenery in an entertaining way, either. Asther's accent is so thick as to make many of his lines unintelligible, while Francis is merely called on to look dewy-eyed. I was struck by the appearance of actor Lucien Prival, who looks like a cross between Erich von Stroheim and Pee-Wee Herman.

Forgotten World War 1 mini-epic from MGM boasts assured Richard Boleslawski direction, a big production, and some unexpected actors thrust into the leading roles. Essentially a romantic triangle with a war background, it pits Serb mayor Walter Huston (pretty hammy for him, but my goodness, he's fun to watch) versus old friend General Nils Asther (suitably romantic, if not quite the smoldering presence MGM must have wanted), vying for the mayor's wife (Kay Francis, doing her usual thing, including modeling some sumptuous clothes, including one very pre-Code exposed-cleavage thing). There's a lot of atmosphere and some exciting, Potemkin-inspired montages, and some interesting faces in the supporting cast, among them a bullfroggy Eugene Palette and a very young, pretty Jean Parker. It barrels toward an exciting climax involving Huston, who's really the lead, though he's billed below the title. I can see why some viewers might be impatient with it or eager for a few less cliches, but I had a great time.