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Before Dawn
Before Dawn
Directed by	Irving Pichel
Screenplay by	Garrett Fort
Based on	Death Watch; 1932 story in Chicago Daily Tribune; by Edgar Wallace
Produced by	Merian C. Cooper
Starring	Stuart Erwin; Dorothy Wilson; Warner Oland; Dudley Digges; Gertrude Hoffman
Cinematography	Lucien N. Andriot
Edited by	William Hamilton
Music by	Max Steiner
Production; company	RKO Pictures
Distributed by	RKO Pictures
Release date	August 4, 1933;
Running time	60 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Before Dawn is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film directed by Irving Pichel and written by Garrett Fort. The film stars Stuart Erwin, Dorothy Wilson, Warner Oland, Dudley Digges and Gertrude Hoffman. It is one of the few Oland films from this period in which he does not play an Asian character. The film was released on August 4, 1933, by RKO Pictures.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Plot

Dying gangster Joe Valerie reveals the hiding place of a million dollars in loot to his physician Dr. Cornelius. The sinister Austrian doctor has designs on the money, but must first outwit detective Dwight Wilson and clairvoyant Patricia Merrick. The setting is an eerie, possibly haunted house in small-town America where the stash is hidden and the bodies begin to accumulate.

Cast

Stuart Erwin as Dwight Wilson
Dorothy Wilson as Patricia
Warner Oland as Dr. Paul Cornelius
Dudley Digges as Horace Merrick
Gertrude Hoffman as Mattie
Oscar Apfel as O'Hara
Frank Reicher as Joe Valerie
Jane Darwell as Mrs. Marble

Reception

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Mordaunt Hall wrote: "[T]his particular ruddy specimen is blessed with vigor and imagination. ... There are enough killings and accidental deaths to satisfy the most ardent enthusiasts of such thrillers. And added to this phase of the narrative there is the inevitable romance."^[4]