Two impossibly beautiful people, Gary Cooper, and Madeleine Carroll star in "The General Died at Dawn" from 1936, featuring Akim Tamiroff, Dudley Digges, William Frawley, and Porter Hall.
Cooper plays O'Hara, an adventurer who is given a money belt of cash to be delivered to one Mr. Wu (Digges) so that he and his oppressed people can go up against the warlord General Yang (Tamiroff). O'Hara runs into Judy Perrie (Carroll) and her dad (Hall) on a train. It gets confusing here because it seems that Judy knows O'Hara, which wasn't evident originally.
In fact the Perries are in cahoots with General Yang and manage to get the money away from O'Hara. However, Perrie has no intention of giving Yang the money; he plans to take it for himself, which upsets his daughter greatly.
As usual, the main Chinese are played by white actors Akim Tamiroff and Philip Ahn (though Tamiroff did have some Chinese blood). William Frawley has a larger than usual role as a drunken gun runner wait to get the money and deliver supplies to Mr. Wu.
A couple of people have mentioned that O'Hara was really a role for someone like Bogart, who was not yet a star. Given Clifford Odets' script, Cooper is pretty talky in this. Also, the O'Hara character is referred to as "the O'Hara boy." Cooper was 35 at the time. He gives the role a light touch, rather than that of a cynical tough guy. I found him likeable.
Madeline Carroll, on the other hand, so incredibly photographed, gives a very old-fashioned performance.
There are some silly and aggravating things in this film. One is the denoument, which involves William Frawley, rather than the lead in the movie! Another is the hiding place of the money, which is too obvious.
The third is how easily O'Hara is conned by Judy. If he had really been that "boy O'Hara" it would have been more believable. But a 35-year-old should have known better.
Speaking of the O'Hara boy, the writer John O'Hara was visiting the set and actually plays a reporter.
Tamiroff was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.
Cooper plays O'Hara, an adventurer who is given a money belt of cash to be delivered to one Mr. Wu (Digges) so that he and his oppressed people can go up against the warlord General Yang (Tamiroff). O'Hara runs into Judy Perrie (Carroll) and her dad (Hall) on a train. It gets confusing here because it seems that Judy knows O'Hara, which wasn't evident originally.
In fact the Perries are in cahoots with General Yang and manage to get the money away from O'Hara. However, Perrie has no intention of giving Yang the money; he plans to take it for himself, which upsets his daughter greatly.
As usual, the main Chinese are played by white actors Akim Tamiroff and Philip Ahn (though Tamiroff did have some Chinese blood). William Frawley has a larger than usual role as a drunken gun runner wait to get the money and deliver supplies to Mr. Wu.
A couple of people have mentioned that O'Hara was really a role for someone like Bogart, who was not yet a star. Given Clifford Odets' script, Cooper is pretty talky in this. Also, the O'Hara character is referred to as "the O'Hara boy." Cooper was 35 at the time. He gives the role a light touch, rather than that of a cynical tough guy. I found him likeable.
Madeline Carroll, on the other hand, so incredibly photographed, gives a very old-fashioned performance.
There are some silly and aggravating things in this film. One is the denoument, which involves William Frawley, rather than the lead in the movie! Another is the hiding place of the money, which is too obvious.
The third is how easily O'Hara is conned by Judy. If he had really been that "boy O'Hara" it would have been more believable. But a 35-year-old should have known better.
Speaking of the O'Hara boy, the writer John O'Hara was visiting the set and actually plays a reporter.
Tamiroff was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.