It's got the idealistic but hardboiled liberal-minded gun-toting man of action with a monkey on his back (literally!) who will probably end up opening his own café in Casablanca one day, the curvaceous, mysterious two-timing lady (from Shanghai, no less!), and, if you count Chinese warlords and American gun merchants, it's even got gangsters. That and the impeccable and moody black and white photography emphasizing some very seedy set-ups make it a very distinct ancestor of the film noir. Its slightly off-kilter sense of rhythm probably also inspired films like "Lady from Shanghai" and even "Last Year at Marienbad". As if that isn't enough, this is the film that gave us the wonderful line "We could have made beautiful music together". This film has everything, in spades: atmosphere you can cut with a knife, a sense of time and place, witty dialogue, innuendo allowing for mature human sexuality and its expression and a literary and politically sensitive subtext provided by American playwright Clifford Odets. The acting ensemble is peerless, even if it's Akim Tamiroff's show. Madeleine Carroll never looked or sounded better (she was a doll in "The 39 Steps" but she's all grown up here) and, as usual, Gary Cooper gives a legendary performance, aided by Wener Janssen's ethereal music. Extra bonus: The ending is one of a kind and may still shock some. This film is available on DVD as part of 5-film Gary Cooper Collection.
Review of The General Died at Dawn
