The Sun Sets At Dawn (1950)

Plenty of movies have been made about prisoners on death row, including a couple of films noirs. The 1958 noir 'I Want To Live!' about a free-spirited woman sentenced to death even earned Susan Hayward an Oscar. Other such noirs were never really meant to be Oscar-contenders, but rather quickly made B-features for the lower bill, sold in package deals. 1950's 'The Sun Sets At Dawn' is one such movie, even if it tries to add some different, more poetic, ingredients to the mix.

Always on the grim gray dawn of an execution, it seems instead of rising, the sun sets...

The movie starts off in an intriguing manner... It's 4.30am and an old man drags a mailbag outside of a roadside cafe, when a bus arrives. A girl exits, in a seemingly comatose state. They share some looks and he helps her into a waiting car, which drives off into the night... It's a small scene, but the way it plays out without any dialogue and a lot of melancholy, the tone is set. This is not going to be a cheery movie...

The Girl (Sally Parr) is on her way to the execution of her boyfriend The Boy (Patrick Waltz), who has been sentenced to death for the murder of a politician. He always claimed innocence, but after 2 reprieves the governor has denied another one. There is also another reason to deny the reprieve, it will be the first execution by a new electric chair in the state. A group of newspaper reporters have gathered inside the roadside cafe, waiting to be driven to the prison, to the execution.

The story of the murder is explained in 2 ways, by The Boy as he has one final talk with The Chaplain (Walter Reed), and at the same time, by the reporters as they recount the details of the case and the trial to a young new reporter (Sam Edwards). It's a decent way to explain the backstory, as well as drop a few clues for the murder case... This is not a flashy crime or mystery movie however even if it does have those elements to it. It's really more of a solemn, doom-laden movie with a dark feeling of despair and dread throughout. The movie does not use names for most of its characters, which adds to the bleak mood. It's a small touch, but it does work.

The movie does suffer from some pretty wooden acting from the lead actors however. This was Patrick Waltz's first movie, billed as Philip Shawn, and it shows, he's clearly out of his depth with the heavy and deep emotions he's supposed to emote. He would move on to bit parts on TV after this movie. Sally Parr does a bit better, but she left the business after this movie and a TV appearance. It seems she was more comfortable on the theater stage than in front of the camera. Thankfully there are several well-known character actors here with decent performances, such as Percy Helton ('The Set-Up') and Charles Arnt ('Hollow Triumph') as a couple of reporters, Housely Stevenson ('Dark Passage') as the owner of the roadside cafe and Howard St. John ('Strangers On A Train') as the prison warden.

This was one of director Paul Sloane's last movies, after leaving the business for over a decade. He does a solid job here, together with DoP Lionel Lindon ('Alias Nick Beal')... There are several interesting scenes and shots, that are a notch above what you'd expect from a low-budget movie like this one. It's a shame that the movie's script, written by the director, required a couple of contrived coincidences to reach its conclusion, but overall I've seen far worse.

'The Sun Sets At Dawn' is not exactly a hidden gem, but its downbeat and bleak mood do set it apart from other movies. Despite its issues I enjoyed this movie, it's different.

7/10