Never having seen it I have coveted this title for years on two counts; I am a great admirer of 1) Cliff Odets who was signed by Hollywood for this, his first screenplay, on the strength of his breakthrough play Waiting For Lefty, staged by The Theatre Group, and 2) John O'Hara, also on his first trip to Hollywood on the strength of his first two successful novels, Appointment In Samarra (1934) and Butterfield 8 (1936); visiting his friend Odets on the set he was coerced to playing a reporter more or less as a gag; Gary Cooper's character was also called O'Hara and he was continually confused and kept repeating 'but he's O'Hara' pointing to the novelist. I was, therefore, disappointed to find IMDb referring to O'Hara as 'the FUTURE novelist' but I was unable to correct this erroneous information.In its 80th year the film did tend to disappoint slightly although the occasional Odets line did shine through.
Review of The General Died at Dawn
