The general died at dawn

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Movie
German title The general died at dawn
Original title The General Died at Dawn
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1936
length 93 minutes
Rod
Director Lewis Milestone
script Clifford Odets
production William LeBaron
music Werner Janssen
Gérard Carbonara (anonymous)
Ernst Toch (anonymous)
camera Victor Milner
cut Eda Warren
occupation

The General Died at Dawn (originally The General Died at Dawn ) is an American adventure film directed by Lewis Milestone . The script is based on the novel of the same name by Charles G. Booth . The film was first shown in Germany on April 30, 1981 on television on NDR .

action

General Yang is a Chinese provincial lord who wants to bring all twelve provinces under control. He wants to rule the silk, rice and opium markets. His problem is that he has few weapons and many of his soldiers desert. His opponent is General Wu, who sends the American adventurer O'Hara, who is accompanied by his tame monkey Sam, to Shanghai to get weapons from the arms dealer in Brighton. The money that O'Hara is supposed to use to pay for the weapons was extorted from the residents of Wu's province.

The American Peter Perrie is in China with his daughter Judy. You should bring O'Hara to Yang, then buy the weapons yourself. Perrie is terminally ill and has only six months to live. He wants to raise enough money so that he can return to America with his daughter. Judy tries to lure O'Hara on a train to Shanghai, but the two fall in love, keeping silent about her relationship to Perrie. Her father delivers O'Hara Yang, who follows Perrie by boat. In Shanghai, O'Hara is to be exchanged for the weapons. Wu is waiting for O'Hara in a hotel in Shanghai and sees Judy with the monkey Sam. Perrie uses O'Hara's money to buy two tickets for a ship to America that will leave the following night. Judy is torn and confesses her feelings for O'Hara to her father. She warns him to leave town with the money, but Perrie is greedy for money and hides the money in his suitcase.

During the night, O'Hara escapes. Injured, he reaches Wu's hotel. After his wounds have been taken care of, he visits Judy. She does not want to betray her father, but demands that the bearer of the money be given $ 2,000. O'Hara finds the hiding place and is shot in the hand by Perrie. O'Hara shoots back and fatally hits Perrie. Judy reveals her relationship to Perrie. Yang and his people appear and capture O'Hara, Judy and Wu and put them on the boat. Yang interrogates her after hiding the money, but it is only when he shows the corpse of one of Wu's men that Judy tells him where the money is if he releases O'Hara and Wu for it. Yang agrees. He knows about the relationship between Judy and O'Hara and lets them say goodbye.

In the meantime, drunken Brighton finds the money. He is caught by Yang's men and tries to escape, stabbing Yang down. O'Hara fears that Yang's men will kill her in revenge. He tells Yang that the world believed his men were disloyal and killed him. Yang gives orders to kill Judy and Wu, but O'Hara doesn't give up. Eventually, he can convince the general, who tells his men to kill each other in order to save his honor. The general dies, the prisoners leave the boat.

Reviews

"Somewhat exciting, skilfully staged adventure film."

“'The General died at dawn' is a broad-based epic adventure film that has some similarities to Josef von Sternberg's ' Shanghai Express '. In spite of the implausible plot that has nothing to do with historical reconstruction, it is a fascinating piece of cinema. "

Award

Academy Awards 1937

background

This film is one of over 700 Paramount Pictures films made between 1929 and 1949, the television rights of which were sold to Universal Pictures in 1958 .

Director Lewis Milestone and screenwriter Clifford Odets, for whom it was the first script work, have guest appearances as reporters on the train. The writer and screenwriter John O'Hara also appears as a reporter. Composer Werner Janssen worked for a film for the second time. Ernst Fegté and Hans Dreier , both native Germans, provided the equipment ; Louis Mesenkop was the sound engineer. The visual effects for the film were created by Gordon Jennings . Among other things, you can see one of the first examples of the split-screen process and morphing .

The film character of the hero O'Hara is based on the real adventurer Morris Abraham Cohen, called Two Guns , (1887–1970). The London-born Cohen was in the 1930s under the Chinese politicians sen Sun Yat- the founder of the Kuomintang , Major General of the Chinese army.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. The general died at dawn. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ^ The general died at dawn at tvspielfilm.de