The General

Tittle:  The General

Director: Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton

Release Year: 1926

Trivia: Buster Keaton said that this was his favorite movie.

Orson Welles stated that Keaton’s  The General  is “the greatest comedy ever made, the greatest Civil War film ever made, and perhaps the greatest film ever made

500 Oregon National Guardsmen play the 2 armies.

Premiere voted this movie as one of “The 50 Greatest Comedies Of All Time” in 2006.

In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #18 Greatest Movie of All Time. It was the first inclusion of this film on the list.

Runtime:

Review:

In terms of iconic silent stars there are two titan’s Charlie chaplain and buster Keaton . Nicknamed  The Great Stone Face I had seen many still’s from his movies and I have heard that Jackie Chan is a massive fan  but that was all I really knew that and he had amazing stunts in his film. But until this film came along I have never seen any of his work  until now. The film follow buster Keaton as Johnnie Gray  as he gets refused from enlisting in the army because he is a engineer. This leads to a misunderstanding between the love of his life Annabelle Lee played by Marion Mack who thinks he is a coward .Later in the film his train is taken and he goes on a one man crusade to  get it back he also along the way find his girlfriend that was taken as well as the train .He retrieves his train and takes it back to the southern lines. And helps to lead a counter attacks against a force from the south It is definitely a film that pales when you describe it  it sounds bit plain and boring .

But it could not be further from the truth. The film is a very ambitious it’s filed with action the sub plot with the love story between and the comedy is very subtle and in terms of slap stick this is a fine example. This film is a must see for fans of silent movie’s the film is filled with crazy stunts last minutes saves and split second shots. An interesting point for me as well was the villains in the film where northerners it is set during the civil war and the hero played by Buster Keaton is a southerner engineer .It is definitely a film that shows the south in a very positive light which is interesting and makes you think about why it was so  badly received  at the time in the north and the south.

. The acting is helped with the music and editing .But the star of the film is buster Keaton and his train the general he runs up down and around the train with apparent ease. There are derailment stunts moving platform stunts moving from platform to platform the stunts in this film are something to behold .Practical massive effects there is great action amazing death defying stunts. Early cinema did not have the problems with large camera or sounds recording

The cameras where much smaller and easier to move.Very early cinema in films like the last laugh which has lots of moving camera shots. The general is the same fantastic tracking shots along with the train very smooth. It reminded me of a personal favourite film of my own The Fall well worth a look and I would say the same for The General. But does Buster Keaton get his train back and will the south be victorious  well you will have to watch it  find out .The film is in the public domain and can be watched in full below.