Before Morning | |
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Before Morning lobby card
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Directed by | Arthur Hoerl |
Produced by | Robert Mintz |
Written by | Arthur Hoerl (adaptation) |
Based on |
Before Morning by Edward and Edna Riley |
Starring |
Leo Carrillo Lora Baxter Taylor Holmes |
Cinematography | Frank Zucker Walter Strenge |
Edited by | Joseph Silverstein |
Production
company |
Stage and Screen Productions, Inc.
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Distributed by | State Rights |
Release date
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Running time
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56 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Before Morning is a 1933 American Pre-Code crime drama directed by Arthur Hoerl, and starring Leo Carrillo, Lora Baxter, and Taylor Holmes. The film was adapted for the screen by Arthur Hoerl, from the 1933 Broadway play of the same name by Edward and Edna Riley.
Actress Elsie Manning (Lora Baxter) is engaged to Horace Baker (Blaine Cordner), but has also been in a romantic relationship with James Nichols (Russell Hicks) who has named her as the beneficiary in his will. Not knowing about her engagement, Nichols asks his wife for a divorce and is refused. Nichols dies in Manning's apartment after she tells him she's engaged to Baker. When Baker arrives on the scene, he agrees to help her dispose of the body by having Nichols moved to a sanitarium. The owner, Dr. Gruelle (Leo Carrillo), tells them Nichols was murdered by poison and attempts to extort money from Manning for his statement that the death was of natural causes. Gruell tries the same scam on the widow of Nichols (Louise Prussing), who eventually agrees when the poison is found in her purse. It is revealed that Gruell is really a corrupt police inspector named Mr. Maitland.