The General Died at Dawn Blu-ray

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directed by Lewis Milestone
USA 1936

From Lewis Milestone, the celebrated director of All Quiet on the Western Front, The Front Page, A Walk in the Sun, Pork Chop Hill, Mutiny on the Bounty and Ocean’s 11, comes this classic tale of courage and heroism starring screen greats Gary Cooper (The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, Beau Geste) and Madeleine Carroll (The 39 Steps, My Favorite Blonde). O’Hara (Cooper) is a mysterious American soldier of fortune who tries to foil the ambitions of General Yang (Akim Tamiroff, Touch of Evil, After the Fox), a ruthless warlord who plans to take over the provinces of Northern China. On route to Shanghai with money to buy arms for the oppressed peasants, O’Hara is lured into Yang’s clutches by a beautiful American (Carroll). An intriguing game of double-cross ensues with O’Hara battling overwhelming odds in a deadly struggle against tyranny. Exotic settings and gorgeous cinematography (Victor Milner, Cleopatra) highlight this action-packed film noir co-starring Dudley Digges (The Invisible Man), Porter Hall (Miracle on 34th Street) and William Frawley (Fred Mertz of TV’s I Love Lucy). The General Died at Dawn was nominated for 3 Oscars: Actor in a Supporting Role (Tamiroff), Cinematography (Milner) and Score (Boris Morros, Werner Janssen).

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The General Died at Dawn (1936) is an adventure film set in the northern Chinese provinces that are torn by civil war, unrest, and revolution. The film is famous for Gary Cooper's line to Madeleine Carroll, "We could make beautiful music together."

An American mercenary and reporter O'Hara (Gary Cooper) is on a dangerous mission to help supply arms to the authorities to aid the peasants in a province ravaged by lunatic ambitious warlord General Yang (Akim Tamiroff). On the train to Shanghai, he meets and falls in love with Judy Perrie (Madeleine Carroll), whose shady and weak father Peter (Porter Hall) is in league with Yang and pressures unwilling Judy to luringly betray O'Hara.

Excerpt of review by Tim Dirks on The Greatest Films located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: September 2nd, 1936

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

Comparison:

Universal - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Box Cover	The General Died at Dawn can be purchased in the Universal Gary Cooper Collection Boxset with Design for Living / Peter Ibbetson / The Lives of a Bengal Lancer and Beau Geste.	Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Universal Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC	Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:38:03	1:38:04.378
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.87 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.37:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 32,229,660,723 bytes Feature: 30,731,661,312 bytes Video Bitrate: 37.932 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	English (Dolby Digital mono)	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1554 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1554 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit) Commentary: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Subtitles	English (CC), Spanish, French, None	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Universal Studios Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • none DVD Release Date: May 31st, 2005 Collection is in three-tiered Digi-pak inside cardboard slipcase with page-book opening. Chapters: 18	Release Information: Studio: Kino 1.37:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 32,229,660,723 bytes Feature: 30,731,661,312 bytes Video Bitrate: 37.92 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • NEW Audio commentary by Author/Film Historian Lee Gambin and Actress/Film Historian Rutanya Alda • Theatrical Trailer (1:28) Blu-ray Release Date: April 7th, 2020 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 10

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (March 2020): Kino have transferred Lewis Milestone's The General Died at Dawn to Blu-ray. It is advertised as a "Brand New 4K Master". The single-layered DVD looked solid but the 1080P advances with over 6X the bitrate exporting more pure contrast and extremely rich and lush textures. Speckles and surface scratches exist but the image in-motion is very pleasing - looking excellent and film-like.

NOTE: We have added 55 large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel mono track (16-bit) in the original English language. It is another advancement in the film's audio as well as the score by Werner Janssen's (Jean Renoir's The Southerner, Ulmer's Ruthless, Marx Bros' A Night in Casablanca) sounding a bit deeper. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray has a new audio commentary by author/film historian Lee Gambin and actress/film historian Rutanya Alda who, incidentally, broke into films via Brian De Palma's experimental movies of the late 1960s. Her credits, impressively, include The Deer Hunter, Garrett & Billy the Kid, The Long Goodbye, The Panic in Needle Park, and Rosemary's Baby among others. I have only briefly sampled the commentary but usually enjoy Lee's insights and I look forward to indulging when I have time. There are really a lot of good things to say about The General Died at Dawn. There is also a theatrical trailer.

The General Died at Dawn is more of Lewis Milestone's impressive cinema. I enjoyed the performances of Madeleine Carroll and Cooper - it's a wonder vintage era, politically oriented, adventure - heavy on morality. Love the fashion and decor (her watch - in close-up twice!) The 4K-restored Kino Blu-ray provides a great presentation and includes a commentary. We absolutely recommend!

Gary Tooze

ON THE DVD: This transfer is on a single layer on the opposite side from 'Design For Loving' and Peter Ibbetson' - it looks very good with lots of film grain. I'm again reminded of Warner's treatment of older films with good contrast, dusted grays and heavy grain. It shows some damage early but settles down very quickly. Overall another acceptable DVD image with slightly fluctuating mono audio and no extras at all.

Gary W. Tooze

Universal - Region 1 - NTSC

Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

1) Universal - Region 1 - NTSC TOP

2) Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

1) Universal - Region 1 - NTSC TOP

2) Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

1) Universal - Region 1 - NTSC TOP

2) Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

1) Universal - Region 1 - NTSC TOP

2) Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray BOTTOM

More full resolution (1920 X 1080) Blu-ray Captures for DVDBeaver Patreon Supporters HERE

Box Cover

The General Died at Dawn can be purchased in the Universal Gary Cooper Collection Boxset with Design for Living / Peter Ibbetson / The Lives of a Bengal Lancer and Beau Geste.

Bonus Captures:

Distribution Universal Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC Kino - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

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