Filmed "off the cuff" in upstate New York, the 35-minute Dawn to Dawn was calculatedly to appeal to the Art House crowd of the 1930s. Largely shot silent, this is the story of a reclusive young girl (Julie Haydon) who hopes to make a go of her failing family farm. Forbidden by her father to have any contact with the Outside World, the girl nonetheless makes the acquaintance of a mysterious stranger (Frank Ekloff). Reluctantly, the girl's father invites the stranger to spend the night, a decision he has cause to regret when his daughter is seduced by the enigmatic house guest. Though the girl has vowed to accompany the stranger wherever he goes, she sends him on his way when her father falls ill -- little knowing that the old man has died, thereby "freeing" her. A featurette that has apparently long since disappeared, Dawn to Dawn would be worth seeing again if only to watch the performance of Julie Haydon, ten years before her creation of the role of Laura in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie.
by Hal Erickson
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