| The Hour Before the Dawn | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Frank Tuttle |
| Produced by | William Dozier |
| Written by | W. Somerset Maugham (novel) Michael Hogan Lesser Samuels |
| Starring | Veronica Lake Franchot Tone |
| Music by | Miklos Rozsa |
| Cinematography | John Seitz |
| Editing by | Stuart Gilmore |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 10, 1944 (United States) |
| Running time | 75 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Hour Before the Dawn is a 1944 drama film directed by Frank Tuttle and starring Veronica Lake and Franchot Tone. It was based on the novel by W. Somerset Maugham.
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It is often rumoured that this film may have led to the downfall in Veronica Lake's career. In it she plays an Austrian refugee living in England with a family that has taken care of her during the war. The eldest son of the family (Franchot Tone) has affections for her but he and the rest of the family are unaware that she in in fact a Nazi spy working to gather information to aid in Hitler's planned invasion of England.
Veronica Lake was at the peak of her career at the time of production, with films such as Sullivan's Travels, This Gun for Hire, The Glass Key, I Married a Witch and So Proudly We Hail! all having been big box office successes for her and Paramount. After this film was released her career declined and her films were less popular, with the exception of Ramrod, The Blue Dahlia and to a lesser extent Saigon, the latter two of which paired her with four-time co-star Alan Ladd.