The General Died at Dawn

Released Sep 2, 1936

1h 37m

Adventure

List

86%

Tomatometer

7 Reviews

54%

Audience Score

100+ Ratings

Soldier of fortune O'Hara (Gary Cooper) falls into a conflict between warlords when General Yang (Akim Tamiroff) and General Wu each attempt to purchase arms to control the Chinese provinces. Single-minded American Peter Perrie, desperate to get money to return home with his daughter Judy (Madeleine Carroll), intervenes, abducting O'Hara and stealing the gun money. The wrath of the warlords come down on all, and O'Hara finds his loyalties are sorely tested when he falls in love with Judy.

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Meyer Levin (Patterson Murphy)

Esquire Magazine

The film is excellently directed, acted, and lighted.

Apr 22, 2020

Full Review

Ann Ross

Maclean's Magazine

Gary Cooper has never been better than in this picture, not even as Mr. Deeds, and has never had better support than he gets from all the players.

Aug 8, 2019

Full Review

Ken Hanke

Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Perfectly cast, beautifully photographed and just startlingly good entertainment.

Rated: 5/5

Nov 23, 2011

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Old-fashioned thriller.

Rated: B-

Jun 8, 2011

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Disregarding historical facts, this romantic historical adventure was a good vehicle for Gary Cooper, then at th eheight of his career.

Rated: B-

Jun 30, 2009

Full Review

Michael Szymanski

Zap2it.com

Rated: 1/5

Sep 21, 2005

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Layhs D

Impressionada com a alta qualidade desses filmes! Da para toda a família assistir

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/23/23

Full Review

Geisiane O

Filme bom ! Conflito familiar Briga por poder e comando. Para quem gosta de estratégia excelente!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/23/23

Full Review

Nathan B

Personally I think this movie has some great performances that give off real emotion.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/09/22

Full Review

Audience Member

Now I know why this movie died, too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/28/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The General Died at Dawn, the title itself is enough of a giveaway as to what happens. But the circumstances leading up to the death of Chinese Warlord Akim Tamiroff is quite a tale. The setting for this film is Kuomintang China where the government of Chiang Kai-Shek doesn't have its writ run very far. Most of China in the Twenties is controlled by various provincial warlords. In fact a case could be made that the Chinese Communists under Mao Tse-tung was viewed as just another warlord. But that's a whole different story. American adventurer Gary Cooper has a money belt with a whole lot of cash in it entrusted to him by the opposition faction to Akim Tamiroff. He's supposed to make contact with William Frawley in Shanghai who when he's not drinking the hotel bar dry, runs guns. But Madeleine Carroll and her father Porter Hall who are working for Tamiroff help Tamiroff part Cooper from his money. In the case of Coop, he's real guilty of thinking with his gonads. Then Porter Hall steals the money for himself and the film gets real interesting. There's one big flaw in the film, occurring when Madeleine Carroll who starts falling for Cooper, refers to him as the "O'Hara Boy." O'Hara is Cooper's character name. Coop was 35 when this film was made and referring to him as 'boy' was ludicrous. But then again a man of 35 should have been on better guard. Film might have worked better if someone younger like Robert Taylor or Tyrone Power played the part of O'Hara. Or Clifford Odets's script should have given Carroll a more elaborate ruse to play on Cooper. Two major oriental roles were given to occidental players. Casting like Akim Tamiroff as the warlord Yang and Dudley Digges as Mr. Wu who employs Cooper would never happen today. But both do well and come to think of it Tamiroff does have an oriental strain in his ancestry. One bit of casting really hits home. By all accounts William Frawley was hardly the lovable tightwad Fred Mertz in real life. He was a misanthropic alcoholic in the tradition of W.C.Fields and a mean drunk when he was loaded which was often back then. His role as Brighton, the misanthropic, mean, and thoroughly racist gunrunner was way closer to the real Bill Frawley. Gary Cooper in The General Died at Dawn was playing a role that Humphrey Bogart would probably have done in the forties. It was always joked that Cooper's dialog consisted of 'yup' and 'nope.' But the way he gets himself, Carroll and Digges out of a real predicament in the end called for quite a gift of gab.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

Full Review

steve d

The acting is great but the story frustrating.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

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Lewis Milestone

Director

Gary Cooper

O'Hara

Madeleine Carroll

Judy Perrie

Akim Tamiroff

Gen. Yang

Dudley Digges

Mr. Wu

Porter Hall

Peter Perrie

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Synopsis

Soldier of fortune O'Hara (Gary Cooper) falls into a conflict between warlords when General Yang (Akim Tamiroff) and General Wu each attempt to purchase arms to control the Chinese provinces. Single-minded American Peter Perrie, desperate to get money to return home with his daughter Judy (Madeleine Carroll), intervenes, abducting O'Hara and stealing the gun money. The wrath of the warlords come down on all, and O'Hara finds his loyalties are sorely tested when he falls in love with Judy.

Director: Lewis Milestone
Screenwriter: Clifford Odets
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Genre: Adventure
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 2, 1936, Original
Release Date (DVD): May 31, 2005
Runtime: 1h 37m