The General Died at Dawn is a 1936 American drama film that tells the story of a mercenary who meets a beautiful girl while trying to keep arms from getting to a vicious warlord in war-torn China.

General Yang, a warlord with control of one of China's twelve provinces, plans to overtake them all with his army to corner the markets of silk, rice, and opium.

However, the opposition in General Wu knows that Yang is lacking in enough men to hinder any chance of invasion, complete with desertion in certain numbers minus the most loyal.

As such, Wu searches out for O'Hara, a soldier of fortune, to go to Shanghai to buy weapons from a gunrunner in Brighton that is selling to the first bidder.

She reluctantly goes with her father's plan to distract O'Hara while Yang makes his way across the train to capture him in order to buy the weapons.

When he angrily states the currency being American and tries to escape the clutches of soldiers, he stumbles onto an incoming Yang while wielding a knife that mortally wounds the general.

The main character, O'Hara, is based on the real-life Anglo-Canadian Jewish adventurer Morris Abraham "Two-Gun" Cohen.

[3] The movie was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Akim Tamiroff), Best Cinematography, and Best Music, Score.

In 1938 an animated cartoon, called The Major Lied Till Dawn, was produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions.