oscaralbert Review of Another Dawn

Another Dawn (1937)

Real insight into the workings of the British military . . .

[6/10 · 13 January 2016]

. . . which are radically different than the American martial marital customs. In ANOTHER DAWN, the screenwriters explore what happens when a Captain gives up his pastime of playing solitaire in favor of regular coitus with his commanding officer's wife. Most every time such a thing comes up on an American military base, the junior officer is defrocked of his command, serves a lengthy sentence in a federal penitentiary, gets dishonorably discharged, and loses whatever government pension he's accrued. That's why it's Standard Operating Procedure for the American Brass to keep it zipped, except when they visit Officers-and-Gentlemen's Clubs. As ANOTHER DAWN illustrates, the British response to this exact same triangular equation is the polar opposite to the U.S. military's. The Brit cuckolded commanding officer feels duty-bound to immediately assign himself to a suicide mission, especially if it's one for which he's ill-suited. It's his corpse that counts, as the Primary Objective here is to clear a glide path for the top commander's wayward wife to be able to enjoy her future jollies with less guilt and apprehension. This is why her upper lip is always so stiff at her husband's funeral.