Commandos Strike at Dawn

Commandos Strike at Dawn
Directed by	John Farrow
Written by	C.S. Forester (story) Irwin Shaw
Starring	Paul Muni Anna Lee Lillian Gish Sir Cedric Hardwicke Robert Coote
Narrated by	Lester Cowan
Music by	Louis Gruenberg John Leipold (uncredited)
Cinematography	William C. Mellor
Edited by	Anne Bauchens
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release dates	December 30, 1942 (1942-12-30)
Running time	98 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$1.5 million (US rentals)

Commandos Strike at Dawn is a 1942 war film directed by John Farrow and written by Irwin Shaw from a story by C.S. Forester, starring Paul Muni, Anna Lee, Lillian Gish, Cedric Hardwicke and Robert Coote.

Plot

Erik Toresen (Paul Muni), a widower and peaceful man, is stirred to violence after the Nazis occupy his quiet Norwegian fishing village. German abuses lead Erik to form a Resistance group. He kills the head of the Nazis occupying his village, and then escapes to Britain, and guides some British Commandos to a raid on a secret airstrip the Germans are building on the Norwegian coast.

Cast

• Paul Muni as Eric Toresen
• Anna Lee as Judith Bowen
• Lillian Gish as Mrs Bergesen
• Cedric Hardwicke as Admiral Bowen
• Ray Collins as Johan Bergesen
• Robert Coote as Robert Bowen
• Rosemary DeCamp as Hilma Arnesen
• Alexander Knox as German Captain
• Elisabeth Fraser as Anna Korstad
• Richard Derr as Gunnar Korstad
• Erville Alderson as Johan Garme
• Barbara Everest as Mrs. Olav
• Rod Cameron as Pastor
• Louis Jean Heydt as Karl Arnesen
• George Macready as Schoolteacher

Production

The film was shot in the Greater Victoria, Canada, area. Saanich Inlet stands in for Norwegian fjords. The airstrip is what would become the Victoria International Airport. Hall's Boat House (now Goldstream Marina) is where the wharf scenes are shot. Aircraft shown include two Bristol Bolingbrokes and two Westland Lysanders.

During the 1930s, Oak Bay, British Columbia was the original "Hollywood North" when fourteen films were produced in Greater Victoria between 1933 and 1938. An off-season exhibition building on the Willows Fairgrounds was converted to a film soundstage and films were produced with stars such as Lillian Gish, Paul Muni, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Edith Fellows, Charles Starrett and Rin Tin Tin Jr. The Willows Park Studio films include: 1933 The Crimson Paradise, 1935 Secrets of Chinatown, 1936 Fury and the Woman (aka Lucky Corrigan), Lucky Fugitives, Secret Patrol, Stampede, Tugboat Princess, What Price Vengeance, Manhattan Shakedown, Murder is News, Woman Against the World, Death Goes North, Convicted, Special Inspector, Commandos Strike at Dawn.

Although primarily producing "B" films in the 1930s — such as The Crimson Paradise in 1933 (Canada's first "talkie") and Special Inspector and Convicted in 1938 for Columbia Pictures (both featuring starlet Rita Hayworth) — this historic Oak Bay studio also produced Commandos Strike at Dawn in 1942 — a Hollywood A-picture directed by John Farrow, which was nominated for an Academy Award for its score by the world-renowned opera composer, Louis Gruenberg. This was Gruenberg's second Hollywood film score and second nomination for one; he'd moved to Beverly Hills in the late 1930s to supplement his income and hang out with fellow LA resident, Arnold Schoenberg, whose works Gruenberg had championed when these composers could still live in Europe and not Los Angeles County.

See also

• Lillian Gish filmography
• British Commandos in Norway

External links

• Commandos Strike at Dawn at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Commandos Strike at Dawn at IMDb
• Commandos Strike at Dawn at the TCM Movie Database
• Commandos Strike at Dawn at AllMovie