The General

Plot synopsis:
The Western & Atlantic Flyer "speeds into Marietta, Georgia in the Spring of 1861," pulled by the locomotive "General." The engineer, Johnnie Gray (Buster Keaton) gets down to oil around, and is observed by two admiring boys. He has two loves: his engine and his girl. The two boys follow him when he goes to call on Annabelle (Marion Mack). They follow him right into her house, and he has to trick them to get them to leave. He presents Annabelle with a portrait of himself in front of his engine. Annabelle's brother (Frank Barnes) arrives with the news that war has broken out. He and their father (Charles Smith) go to enlist. Annabelle expects Johnnie to enlist, so he says goodbye. She gives him a kiss, and he backs off the edge of the porch.Johnnie runs by a shortcut and vaults a counter to be first in line. He doesn't hear that he is "more valuable to the South as an engineer," so he doesn't understand why he is rejected. He tries two more times to sign up, but is kicked out the door. Annabelle's father and brother invite him into the line, but he has had enough. They think he is a disgrace, and tell Annabelle he never got in line. He sits dejected on his engine's siderod. Annabelle tells him she won't speak to him until he is in uniform. An engine hostler moves the engine, with Johnnie still sitting on the siderod. He doesn't notice until, on the third revolution, the locomotive is entering the enginehouse.One year later, in Chattanooga, Gen. Thatcher (Jim Farley) and his "chief spy" Capt. Anderson (Glen Cavender) hatch a plan to take a group of spies to steal a train at Big Shanty and drive it north, burning bridges to cut the supply line to the Confederate army threatening Chattanooga.At Marietta, Annabelle boards Johnnie's train to visit her wounded father. Johnnie sees her pointedly fuss with her brother's medals. When the train stops at Big Shanty for breakfast, Anderson and his men get off on the side away from the station. Annabelle gets into one of the boxcars to retrieve money from her trunk. The men remove the coupling pin between the boxcars and the coaches, get aboard, and start the engine. They discover Annabelle, and have to take her. Johnnie calls for others to follow him, as he runs after his train, but they soon give up running.The Yankee spies tie up Annabelle. They stop to cut the telegraph wires, and back at Big Shanty, the operator notices the line go dead. Johnnie stops at a handcar shed, and only then notices that no one has followed him. But he gets the handcar going. The spies remove a rail and jam stones in the guardrail. Johnnie falls off the handcar, which runs off the track and smashes down an embankment. The "General" speeds past Kingston, where the "Texas" waits on a siding. Johnnie sees a bicycle, which he leaps on, but it doesn't work well along the rough roadbed. On the "General," Capt. Anderson unpacks a Confederate uniform. Johnnie runs into Kingston and shouts for help. Soldiers pile onto the flatcar behind the "Texas." Johnnie pulls the pin behind the flatcar to leave the rest of the train, but the flatcar is not coupled to the locomotive, and when he speeds away he does not notice the flatcar full of soldiers is left behind.By the time he notices he is alone, Johnnie sees a railroad mortar on a siding. The Yanks have stopped for water and wood. Johnnie is pulling the mortar car. The spies see him, and pull away without shutting off the water, and Johnnie gets an unexpected shower. Capt. Anderson won't stop and fight because he assumes they are outnumbered. They chop through the rear wall of the end boxcar. Back on the mortar car, Johnnie loads one handful (and a bit more) of powder, wadding, and a cannonball into the mortar, aimed to arc over the engine and hit the spies. He lights the fuse, and hurries back over the tender to the engine. The mortar fires, and sends the cannonball in a short arc right into the cab. Johnnie rolls it out of the cab and returns to the mortar. As he prepares another shot, there is a huge explosion beside the track back down the line. This time he puts the whole canister of powder in the gun. In hurrying back to the cab, his foot gets caught in the coupling bar, and dislodges it. When he finally gets his foot unstuck, the bar falls down and bangs against the crossties. The jostling makes the mortar lower until it points right at Johnnie, who has now got his foot caught in a loop of chain. He gets free, and scrambles all the way to the cowcatcher. The two trains enter an S-curve, and are at just the right places when the mortar fires that the shot misses the "Texas" and explodes just behind the spies.The Yanks release the rear boxcar to leave it in Johnnie's way. He pushes it onto a passing siding and proceeds. Busy feeding the fire, he doesn't notice that the boxcar continues to roll to the end of the siding and back onto the main track. He can't figure out how the boxcar got in front of him again. From the remaining boxcar the Yanks drop timbers across the rails. Johnnie, looking for a cloth to handle a leaky valve, doesn't see when the boxcar hits one of the timbers and is derailed out of the way. He can't figure out why the boxcar is now gone.Now he can see the timbers on the track. He slows the engine, and runs ahead to lift the first one. But he stumbles, and falls back onto the moving cowcatcher, holding the timber. With adroit timing, he uses it to hit the next one out of the way.The Yanks throw a switch to a spur track, and lift Annabelle over the tender to the engine cab. Johnnie, occupied with firewood again, sees just in time to stop before the end of the spur track. He backs out of the siding, and starts the engine forward, but the wheels slip. He gets down to throw dirt onto the rails. He doesn't notice when the wheels get a grip and the engine pulls away. He has to run to jump on the back of the tender.The Yanks have started a fire in the remaining boxcar, and they leave it in a covered bridge. Johnnie arrives in time to push it out. But there is so much smoke in the cab that he retreats to the tender deck, where he sits on the water hatch, not having noticed the lid is not on. He finally diverts the burning car onto a siding.Johnnie is so busy chopping wood on the tender he does not notice the Confederate army retreating. The Union army now passes, and Capt. Anderson removes his Confederate uniform. Johnnie finally notices the Union soldiers, and crouches down on the floor of the cab.The "General" passes under a trestle, and loops around to stop on the trestle above. When Johnnie passes below, the Yanks drop timbers down on him. Some land on the tender, providing fuel. But Capt. Anderson gets a good look, and says, "There is only one man on that engine." Johnnie stops, and gets off to hide in the woods. It starts to rain.When night falls, Johnnie climbs through the window of a house and takes food from the dining table. When a number of Union officers enter, he hides under it, and hears them planning to get supply trains across the Rock River bridge so the army can attack the Confederates the next day. One officer's cigar burns a hole in the tablecloth, and Johnnie is able to see when Annabelle is brought in and locked in the next room. The officers leave. Johnnie knocks out a sentry with a log and steals his uniform. He knocks out another sentry with his rifle butt, and climbs in the window of Annabelle's room. He gets her through the window, and leads her into the forest. They encounter a bear, and both get stuck in a bear trap. Johnnie keeps losing Annabelle, so he decides they should stay in one place until dawn.The next morning, Johnnie sees his locomotive. He empties a large sack of boots and stuffs Annabelle into the bag. Then he realizes one of his own shoes has come off and he has to find it among all those on the ground. He joins a line of soldiers loading the boxcar behind the "General." He stands where Annabelle can reach to uncouple it from the rest of the train, then puts her into the boxcar as a bag of supplies. He cringes and covers his eyes when he sees a crate and a barrel tossed in after her. He joins the line loading firewood, knocks out the officer in the cab, and starts the engine, heading back south.Johnnie stops outside of town, loops a rope over a telegraph pole, and ties it to the boxcar. When he pulls away, the pole and wire are pulled down, and the telegraph line is cut. He chops the rope, leaving the pole across the track. From the tender, he chops through the front wall of the boxcar, climbs in, and searches for Annabelle. He finds her among all the freight only when he steps on the sack she is in. Then he has to help her get across to the tender.Johnnie stops to throw fence rails onto the tender for firewood, but he has some difficulty getting them to stay there. Meanwhile, the Yanks have given chase with the Texas and another engine. They have to stop to get the telegraph pole out of the way. Annabelle takes what is left of the rope, and ties it across the track between two young pine trees. Johnnie almost leaves without her. When she shows Johnnie what she has done, he demonstrates how ridiculously flimsy it is. But the Yanks are coming, and they scramble into the engine cab and start off. The rope pinions the soldiers riding the "Texas" and the two trees are uprooted and get caught up in the siderods. Annabelle's arrangement has succeeded in forcing the pursuers to stop once more.Johnnie knocks out the whole back wall of the boxcar. The Yanks have to stop again to clear it off the track. He slows them down by tossing all the freight onto the track out the open back. In the cab, the Union officer is just regaining consciousness. Johnnie returns just in time, knocks him out with a well-aimed log, and takes his pistol.They stop at a water tank. Johnnie does not notice he has pulled the spout away from the supply pipe. When he opens the valve, Annabelle is knocked down by the deluge. He replaces the spout, and she gets more water over her. They leave, the water still flowing, and it drenches the officers on both the chasing trains.Annabelle feeds the fire. She sees a log with a big hole in it, and rejects it, tossing it out of the cab. Johnnie can't believe it. The Yanks plan to couple to the rear of the boxcar. Annabelle sweeps the cab; Johnnie tosses the broom. Annabelle feeds the fire with kindling; Johnnie picks up a sliver and hands it to her. She tosses it in the firebox. He shakes her, then kisses her.The Yanks catch up, and couple to the rear of the boxcar. At the forward end, Johnnie uncouples it. The Yanks fire at him. They switch the boxcar into a siding, then back out onto the main track. The second train smashes into them, knocking down officers. They just get re-seated when the train starts with a lurch, and they tumble again.Johnnie fastens a chain between the tender and some switch points. He has Annabelle start the engine, and the chain deforms the switch points. But Annabelle cant stop the engine. Johnnie runs downhill to meet her where the track passes below, but she gets the locomotive reversed, and he has to scramble back up the hill. They meet the Yanks at the broken switch, where the two Yank trains end up on an elevated spur track, smashing again, allowing Johnnie and Annabelle to get away.Johnnie sticks the end of a fence rail in the fire. He stops in the middle of the Rock River bridge, and piles firewood on the ties behind the tender. Meanwhile, the Yank officers can't figure out how to fix the switch so they can continue the pursuit, and a Union army is approaching the rendezvous at the bridge. Johnnie pours kerosene from the headlamp onto the firewood. Annabelle knocks the burning fence rail off the tender, and Johnnie is trapped on the far side of the fire in the middle of the bridge. He jumps over the fire just as Annabelle moves the engine forward, and Johnnie falls through a gap into the river.The Yank officers are still ineptly dealing with the broken switch. Johnnie hails a Confederate picket, and is fired at. Annabelle points out that he is still wearing the Yankee uniform, so he changes. They pull into Marietta, with the whistle blasting, and Johnnie runs to the Division Headquarters to warn them of the attack. The General leads the army out of town, and Johnnie and Annabelle find themselves in the middle of a stampede of traffic. Annabelle sees her wounded father, and Johnnie is left in the deserted street. He finds a sword belt and pistol, straps them on, and follows the army.The Yank officers are still trying to fix the switch. A locomotive engineer pushes his way through them and does a neat, quick fix using an ax. The two engines reach the Rock River bridge at the same time as the Union army arrives. The General says, "That bridge is not burned enough to stop you, and my men will ford the river." The "Texas" proceeds onto the bridge, the span collapses, and the engine crashes into the river.The Confederates surprise the Union army, and a fight begins. Johnnie is near an officer, and he imitates his commanding gestures, but his sword keeps coming apart. He stands near a gun battery, where a sharpshooter keeps picking off the artillerymen. Finally Johnnie's broken sword is effective. At his commanding swing, the blade comes off again and spears the sharpshooter. Johnnie tries firing the unmanned cannon. He has to yank the firing lanyard so hard that the gun tilts straight up before firing. He retreats, but the shot lands in the river, blowing a dam. The surge of water catches the Yankee infantry in the river, forcing them to retreat. Johnnie directs the other artillerymen to fire at officers on the remaining train. They retreat, and the whole army retreats. Johnnie directs another shot that derails the last car, stopping the retreating supply train. Johnnie saves a battle flag, and mounts a rock, inadvertently stepping on an officer who was observing from a cleft.The victorious army marches back into town, with Johnnie among those leading. He peels off and sits on the rear of his locomotive. When he goes into the cab, he finds the forgotten Yank officer just waking up. He escorts him to Division Headquarters and hands him over to the General. After a brief explanation, the General has Johnnie remove the uniform that does not belong to him, as Annabelle and her father watch. The General then gives him an officers coat and the Yankees surrendered sword. He poses for Annabelle and is enlisted as a Lieutenant.Johnnie takes Annabelle to the General, and they sit together on the siderod. His kiss is interrupted by the need to salute a passing soldier . . . then another . . . and another. Then a whole regiment approaches, so Johnnie repositions so he can kiss Annabelle while he pumps his hand up and down in salute after salute.

Tags: entertaining, absurd, comedy, murder

Review:
`The General', which is set during the Civil War, is about a train engineer named Johnny Gray (Buster Keaton, of course) who tries to enlist in the Confederate Army .
Johnny's efforts to recover the General  and to win back his girl's love  become an unbelievably funny and action-packed series of events, as Johnny tries to go from being a sad-sack buffoon to being a hero.If you haven't watched many silent films, they demand a greater amount of attention than `normal' film  there are no audio cues; and volumes can be spoken with a simple facial expression.
His timing, whether for a joke or for a tender moment, is absolutely impeccable.What's also great about `The General' is the sheer amount of stunts and physical humor  a movie like this couldn't be made today.
His first certainty was that the production had to be "so authentic it hurts." He even insisted on using historically accurate narrow-gauge railroad tracks, which he found, along with appropriate landscapes, near the sleepy town of Cottage Grove, Oregon.Most importantly, the area had stretches of parallel tracks, which allowed scenes of Buster on his trainagilely scrambling over the cars, balancing on the roof to scan the horizon, chopping wood for the engine while armies pass unnoticed behind himto be filmed from another train running alongside.
The film never tries to be beautiful; its beauty is functional, just like the grave, masculine beauty of the locomotives and railroad bridges and Civil War uniforms.The General's narrative structure is as strong and uncluttered as its look.
He manages to steal it back and races it towards his own lines, pursued by the raiders in the Texas, who try to prevent him from carrying their battle plans to his own high command.The General is not Keaton's funniest film, but here he was going for quality over quantity in laughs.
A forlorn Buster sits on the crossbar of his train's wheels, so lost in thought he doesn't notice when the train starts to move, carrying him up and down in gentle arcs: stillness in motion.I agree with author Jim Kline who describes The General as Keaton's most personal film, the one that best captures his unique vision, spirit and personality.
It is "generally" (or should I pun and say "General Lee"?) said that the best comedy of the silent film career of Buster Keaton's career was his Civil War epic THE GENERAL.
In fact, the closest thing to his best sound film (or film that he influenced that was a sound film) was his work with Red Skelton in the comedy A SOUTHERN YANKEE, where he returned to a Civil War theme.THE GENERAL (as I mentioned in discussing the Disney film THE GREAT LOCOMOTIVE CHASE) is based on the "Andrews Raiders" stealing of the Confederate locomotive "The General", and an attached train, which was used to damage tracks and bridges.
Because Keaton's family and girl friend (Marion Mack) see he is not enlisted, they believe he turned coward.Johnny eventually is the only person who tries to retake "the General" from the raiders, and the film has actually two chases in it - first Andrews and his men stealing the train, and then Keaton sneaking into Northern lines with Mack and retaking it.Along the way are many comic classic moments, such as Keaton carefully standing on the cowcatcher and carefully using physics to knock off broken wooden ties that might derail the train, or when (at a moment of dejection) Keaton sits on the connecting rod that links the trains wheels and finds himself pulled into the locomotive barn while in a sitting positions.
This was the latter's most famous performance - look at his reaction to the collapse.It must be regarded as Keaton's finest film, and certainly the best war comedy to come out in the silent period.
A title card tells us that Johnnie Gray (Keaton) has two loves in his life: his engine and his girlrespectively, The General and Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack).
One of the great masterpieces of cinema, Buster Keaton's "The General" combines inventive humor with terrific action and fine melodrama, all beautifully and carefully planned and photographed.
The General is a silent comedy (mostly slapstick) about Johnny Gray, a train engineer with two loves: his engine and Annabelle Lee. Annabelle soon dumps him because of his failure to enlist into the Civil War (they would not take him because he was too valuable as an engineer).
After the war has started, the girl is kidnapped by some Union raiders on Keaton's train, and so begins the greatest (and funniest) chase ever filmed.
As a silent film, The General must rely mainly on images for its humor-the slapstick images of Johnnie falling over constantly, the unusual image of Johnnie riding up and down on the crossbar between the train wheels, the stereotype exploitation in the scene when the girl sweeps out the locomotive.
Johnnie sets off after the two loves of his life.Great comedy from the silent era, directed and starring one of the greatest comedy directors and actors of that era, Buster Keaton.
Despite what most critics say, Buster Keaton made funnier, better films than this.Keaton, a lifelong railroad buff, is engineer Johnny Gray, captain of "The General," a locomotive which carries passengers and freight across the American South.
Compared to other Keaton comedies, it feels a bit strait-jacketed by that."The General" is still a solid thrill comedy with some amusing one- liners ("If you lose this war, don't blame me," Johnny yells after being rejected) and brilliant sight gags, like the fussy Annabelle's rejection of unattractive firewood while Buster struggles to stoke the engine.To me, that's enough for "The General" to be another good reason for loving Buster Keaton.
And The General, even clocking in at around three hours, is surprisingly watchable based on his physical performance alone.Granted, I still admit that I prefer the silent clowns in shorts, because it can be a bit exhausting to watch them in an entire feature, especially since they are often strings of vignettes thrown together and my modern brain prefers to edit out everything that's unnecessary, but some of the joy in these films is found in those very moments.
There are multiple points in the General, a story about a Southern engineer that has to rescue his beloved from the clutches of the North in the Civil War, where Keaton's character, Johnnie Gray, has to stop his train, jump out, and remove something from the tracks, which in itself can be quite boring, but the way that Keaton injects physical comedy into those moments keeps me entertained.And it's a marvel how so many realistic, yet comedic stunts that Keaton could come up with.
There are many instances of silent films/comedies, seen with Charlie Chaplin, prime Laurel and Hardy and with Buster Keaton.Keaton is seen as one of the greats by many but for some reason doesn't seem to be quite as well known, even with a just as good reputation critically, as Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy (who transitioned better into sound maybe), when at his best in the 1920s (an extraordinary period with a deservedly lauded reputation) he was every bit as great, as funny and as likeable.
There are some truly wonderful scenes in this film, which is full of adventure, comedy, and some pretty impressive stuntwork on moving trains by Buster Keaton and the other actors.
Buster Keaton plays the lead in this silent era masterpiece that takes its inspiration from the Great Locomotive Chase, which in turn was a real event during the American Civil War in which a train was stolen by the North and sped over the lines in preparation for the coming offense.The General has some definitive upsides working in its favour.
Needless to say I wanted to view the movie, to see how you could make a comedy out of a story which for some people was a tragedy.As I viewed the movie I found that the first part of it was historically correct from the point where the engineer (Buster Keaton) and passengers went into the train station for breakfast and the union spies stole the train.
The rest I have already told you about.I am not allowed to list my url but if you Google 'the great locomotive chase fplum' you can go to my website and read the full story (twice actually) as well as see pictures of Marion Ross, the monument to Andrew's Raiders at the Chattanooga National Cemetery, Marion's Medal of Honor (First Army Soldier to be awarded posthumous), and The General.However the movie departs from history when Buster starts tearing apart the rail car and stops for water (another fine Keaton stunt with the water hose) and they do not get captured.
"The General" is set during the Civil War and features Buster Keaton as a Confederate chain engineer chasing after Union soldiers that steal his train.
Keaton risked life and limb performing many amazing and dangerous practical stunts on and around the moving train that provided for a great spectacle but without a strong story and strong characters the film becomes little more than a series of spectacular but meaningless stunts.
There is certainly a place for comedy in the horrors of war, as Chaplin brilliantly demonstrated in The Great Dictator(1940), but Keaton's failure to show any of the depth of the historic events of the time left me unsatisfied and a bit annoyed by the treatment of the US Civil War. I have a hard time understanding the near universal praise for The General(1926), to me the picture is akin to a modern film that has incredible action scenes but zero story..
Buster Keaton starred in and directed this silent film about Johnny Gray (Keaton), an engineer who through a series of misadventures becomes a Confederate war hero during the US Civil War. For the most part this is a fun story, with some solid comedy and even a few suspenseful moments (and, surprisingly, not a bad battle scene thrown in near the end.) The early special effects were also pretty well done - particularly the scene where the Rock River Bridge collapses, and the Union train that was crossing it plunges into the river far below.
He chose to make the ultimate train movie – his comic masterpiece 'The General'.The narrative of The General has its basis in fact, with Keaton drawing inspiration from an incident during the Civil War that saw Union spies steal a locomotive and escape north with southern soldiers in hot pursuit.
In The General, a good-hearted train engineer Johnnie Gray (Keaton) runs afoul of a Yankee plot and is soon called into action when his beloved locomotive 'The General' is hijacked by spies with the girl of his dreams, Annabelle, on board.
Johnnie pursuits it straight through enemy lines single-handedly, determined to win back his train, his girl, and his pride.Buster Keaton's films have such a graceful perfection, such an interlocking of story, character and episode that they unfold like music.
In a day when doing production on a big scale was difficult, The General succeeds in bringing us massive crashes, great little things here and there for Keaton to use to get us to smile and of course a fantastic use of slow moving trains(who knew trains going 10mph could be so fun).I went into watching the movie with high expectations; after all it seems everybody who see's this comes off with a sense of them seeing something amazing.
The story is set in the American civil war of the 19th century, we see Buster Keaton as a train engineer turned down by the Confederacy because he is just too important in what he is doing (but no one bothers to tell him that).
Buster Keaton's silent comedy classic "The General" (1926) is a film that went ignored for a long time.
So "The General" is the name of the train and not of our hero Buster Keaton who is named as Johnnie Gray.The storyline is pretty simple, it's a lover's test to prove his love.
The appeal of The General may lie in its ability to take you back to what it would have been like in frontier America, its remarkable visual beauty (incredible cinematography), or possibly Keaton's trademark operatic stunts, the climax of this movie which is one of his most impressive (the famous bridge scene was the most expensive shot in all of silent cinema).But the thing which makes this and all Keaton films a joy to watch is the irrepressible charm and appeal of his onscreen persona.
The appeal of The General may lie in its ability to take you back to what it would have been like in frontier America, its remarkable visual beauty (incredible cinematography), or possibly Keaton's trademark operatic stunts, the climax of this movie which is one of his most impressive (the famous bridge scene was the most expensive shot in all of silent cinema).But the thing which makes this and all Keaton films a joy to watch is the irrepressible charm and appeal of his onscreen persona.
Train chasing during the civil war in America, a comedy that deserves at least 7/10 at today's standards, and considering that this is a silent film from 1926...9/10.
That, and I can never get enough trains on film!Keaton plays "Johnny Gray," a railroad engineer who signs up for the Confederate army when the Civil War breaks out.
Keaton made sure that everything looked and felt as realistic as possible, using photographs by Civil War photographer Matthew Brady, paintings, histories, everything he could get a hold of.Overall, most of the film is sort of a slow-motion chase, with plenty of funny gags along the way; despite the film's length, it never has a slow moment.Unlike most silent-era comics, Buster's acting was subtle and underplayed.
Excellent late-silent era film has Buster Keaton (in probably his finest role) starring as a train engineer during the U.S. Civil War in the South.
Overall Keaton's unique personality in silent movies and his amazing physical comedy prowess makes "The General" easily one of the top 10 films of the 1920s.
Buster Keaton is a railroad engineer in the Civil War South who is rejected by the draft board but finds himself chasing--or being chased--by Union soldiers who have stolen his train.
THE GENERAL isn't the military rank of Keaton's on screen character, but actually one of the two loves of his life: his locomotive called The General; and his girlfriend, Annabelle Lee (Marian Mack).In a prologue that begins in Marietta, Georgia, in the year 1861, Johnnie Gray (Buster Keaton) is a train engineer who finds time to court Annabelle Lee (Marian Mack).
After saving Annabelle and retrieving his own locomotive, the chase resumes in reverse when Johnnie finds himself being pursued by the enemy, later climaxed by a well staged gun battle with the Confederate Army by his side.What makes THE GENERAL so essentially remarkable is that it's a straight forward story based on fact, and listed among one of the greatest comedies of all time.
Reportedly filmed on location and not in a studio back-lot, THE GENERAL captures the period flavor from the Civil War era, providing laughter in what would not be common place for comedy.Also seen in the supporting cast are Charles Smith as Annabelle's father; James Farley as Captain Thatcher; Frank Hagney as the Recruiting Officer; and Joe Keaton as a Confederate Officer.THE GENERAL, hailed as Buster Keaton's personal favorite of all his movies, which was not critically acclaimed at the time of its release, became one of 13 selected feature films shown on public television's 1971 presentation of THE SILENT YEARS, hosted by Orson Welles, with a copy print from the Paul Killiam collection and piano score by William P.
Buster Keaton stars in this 1927 silent masterpiece as a confederate railroad engineer who goes after and gets a pivotal train from up north and gets the girl loses the girl..and gets her again..An absolute perfect movie that will have you smiling and laughing at its man versus machine scenes along with the sight gags and the genius of Buster KeatonOn a scale of one to ten..10.
Buster Keaton's ability to bring to life a character that tickles the audiences' funny bones, while at the same time conceive of thousands of camera angles and shots that match most professional filmmakers present day, as well as, stunts and action sequences that appeal on a grazioso scale, make this film a definite must-watch now and for its own time period, makes it, understandable, one of the greatest films of all time..
'The General', starring Buster Keaton who also co-wrote and co- directed the film, is a hilarious comedy, which is often more subtle and deadpan than you might expect from one of its age.
General, The (1927) **** (out of 4) Buster Keaton plays a Southern engineer who has two loves in his life-- his train and his girlfriend Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack).
Although I will always lean more towards Chaplin's films, The General entertains with the best of them and is one of the all-time classics.+Iconic train chase, pure entertainment +Keaton is full of laughs +Even with it being nearly 100 years old +Short and to the point..-..Just a bit of a slow start 8.8/10.
It is not a comedy like some of Buster Keatons other films though.
Better yet, Keaton comes up with some of the best physical comedy of all time, performing some of the greatest stunts you'll ever see on a moving train.
"The General" (1927) directed by Buster Keaton as a silent movie it concerns within care about a train that crosses the line of fire between Yankees and confederates during the Secession war.
This delightful Buster Keaton comedy is probably his best known film.In "The General," Keaton plays Johnnie Gray, engineer on the train that gives the film its name.