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OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 043

The Sun Sets at Dawn

195071 minUnited States

Film noir Crime

Video edition: YouTube
Original language: English
This copy runs: 71:36
Subtitles: English

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Synopsis

A condemned young man waits through the final night before his scheduled execution while his girlfriend remains nearby. Journalists covering the event begin to question whether the case has been properly understood. Their search for an overlooked connection runs against prison procedure and a clock that allows very little time for doubt.

Cast

Sally Parr

Patrick Waltz

The Boy

Walter Reed

The Chaplain

DirectorsPaul Sloane

Historical context

The characters' lack of conventional names and the story's religious emphasis distinguish it from a straightforward prison procedural. The film frames its death-row crisis as a symbolic moral drama, placing questions of mercy and belief alongside the machinery of criminal justice.

Sources and availability

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Wikipedia Internet Archive

Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.

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Availability checked on September 10, 2026.

Photograph credit

Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.

Patrick Waltz — NBC · Public domain
Walter Reed — Film screenshot (Eagle-Lion Films) · Public domain

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