NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (June 2024): Kino have transferred Frank Tuttle's The Hour Before the Dawn to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "Brand New HD Master – From a 2K Scan of the 35mm Original Fine Grain". The 1080P is quite heavy, dark and consistent with minor speckles and the stock war footage has noticeable marks. This is not very sharp and the contrast is somewhat muddy. However, overall I enjoyed the HD presentation.

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On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master dual-mono track (24 bit) in the original English language. The Hour Before the Dawn has war footage (plane, tank etc.) bombing and a stupendous explosion and fire. The score was by Miklós Rózsa (Time Out of Mind, The Green Cockatoo, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, The Killers, The Lost Weekend, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, Double Indemnity) and beautifully supports the film. Also Beer Barrel Polka, There'll Always Be an England and Richard Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries (piano) can be heard in the film. The audio is clear and reasonably clean. Kino offer optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers a new commentary by film historian Paul Talbot (author of The Films of the Dionne Quintuplets.) I thought it was excellent - he talks about the author W. Somerset Maugham (novel was publish in 1942) and differences from the book as we'll as quoting descriptions from it, provides details about Franchot Tone (married to Joan Crawford,) Veronica Lake and her immense wartime popularity - her studied accent in The Hour Before the Dawn and her pregnancy during shooting, actors John Sutton, Binnie Barnes, Henry Stephenson, Nils Asther, Aminta Dyne, cinematographer John F. Seitz, director Frank Tuttle (this his 60th film) 'standing in' for a few shots, and even the dog "Pal" a star of Lassie Come Home, Courage of Lassie and The Painted Hills. Paul identifies matte shots, ear-screen projection, unused inserts, the white feather symbol, talks about costume designer Edith Head, and so much more - he has really done his homework and this is a deeply researched commentary. Impressive work Paul. There is a trailer (remastered in 2K) for The Hour Before the Dawn as ell as trailers for Saigon, So Proudly We Hail!, The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, Five Graves to Cairo, Lucky Jordan and The Web.

Frank Tuttle's The Hour Before the Dawn has conscientious objector Jim Hertherton (Franchot Tone) deal with his well argued 'exempt' stance and the less forgiving neighboring farmers. He falls for Austrian Dora Bruckmann (Veronica Lake) who eventually reveals herself to be a Nazi spy. As a historical curiosity it culminates swiftly with our protagonist awakening to his idealistic stance and propagandized 'doing the right thing' almost directly after Churchill's famous radio speech. This plot point is fascinating. The Kino Blu-ray has the film in 1080P, and a valuable, meticulously researched, commentary. The Hour Before the Dawn has mixed reviews but I found it very interesting to say the least. Veronica Lake and vintage era war film fans will want to check this out.  

Gary Tooze