THE GENERAL DIED AT DAWN (1936) *** 1/2

General Yang (Akim Tamiroff) is a kitschy, megalomaniacal warlord who, in spite of his latest successful raid is in bad shape and needs more funds to buy arms with. He commands loyal troops ready to kill themselves for him. Typically, a soldier who loses face by accidentally spilling tea on the General is about to blow out his (the soldier's) brains -- a clever scene that prepares us for events at the end.

The film is no classic like its directorıs earlier ³All Quiet On The Western Front² but it stands way above routine. Plot and visuals are quite wild in that bizarre Southern California way that reconstructs imaginary Chinas in studios. The baroque exoticism, the male-female relationships, the solid tempo, all make this a true movie-movie.

Odets wrote with brio, tough-guy and wise-guy lines where romance with a big R and idealism alternate with disenchantment. He added in-jokes, as when Cooper, named O'Hara, meets on the train a corrupt fellow-journalist played by the real writer John O'Hara. In fact Odets himself, columnist Sidney Skolsky and the film's director Lewis Milestone also have tiny roles in the movie.

The cast is good to watch. The performers have presence, both the glamorous stars and the efficient character actors. This makes up for some phony Chinese faces and accents, although Tamiroff's Chinese may sound genuine to non-Chinese speakers.

The film has great atmosphere, makes excellent use of rain, water, trains, chiaroscuro, angles, shadows. Its top photography is by Victor Milner and the superior special effects, by Gordon Jennings. The music score is lovely. While there is much of it, it is never overwhelming. It underlines the events both with lyricism (fine use of Western strings and remotely Oriental sounds) and humor (as in the inclusion of the song "I'll be glad when you're dead, you rascal you"). The sound recording is very clear.

There are some delirious, fantastic passages, as well as wonderfully corny bits, yet the film seems conceived as a serious effort rather than as camp. The picture's last words are spoken by the sage Mr. Wu (played by Dudley Digges) when he sums up Yang: "He was a talented man but very, very corrupt."

Akim Tamiroff keeps stealing the show. He delivers the most flamboyant (and arguably the best) performance of his long career. 1936 was the year the Academy added the Supporting Actor category. Tamiroff was nominated, but lost to Walter Brennan (in "Come and Get It"). Also nominated were Cinematography and Score (both losing to the film "Anthony Adverse") (Edwin Jahiel)