Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

The General (1927)

Sometimes it is good to stop and remember things. For instance, I remembered a discussion I had had with Steven Murray regarding the "best" Civil War movie - we both agreed there were few to choose from, and out of the small number I could remember I had championed Audie Murphy in John Huston's Red Badge of Courage. Steve mulled around in his capacious memory and mentioned Buster Keaton in The General as probably the best. I didn't have anything but vague memories of Buster Keaton in old TV re-runs, but filed it away in my memory that I would have to see The General, based on Steve's recommendation.

As time went on I had the opportunity to see a long documentary ("A Hard Act to Follow") on the amazing career of Buster Keaton, who is ranked as the 7 th Greatest Director of All Time, according to Entertainment Weekly. My other researches confirmed that Keaton had indeed been a major force in the early years of motion pictures; a force who wrote, directed, and starred in his own movies, almost unique in his day and since.

The difficulty with appreciating Buster is twofold: first, he made most of his movies during the silent era, and these films have not crossed over to the post-1930 talkie era, although more and more fans have come to realize the great works films like The General are. Secondly, Buster made it look so doggone easy. He was so incredibly gifted athletically that he did extremely dangerous stunts with a nonchalant air that deceived you into thinking it wasn't as dangerous as it really was.

Buster started out in Vaudeville with his parents, who used him in their act, starting at the tender age of four. Buster had been noted as someone who could take a pratfall (AKA buster) without harm. Harry Houdini reportedly saw young Joe plunge headlong down a flight of stairs with no apparent harm, saying "that was quite a buster," and the name stuck. Keaton also quickly learned that a straight face got more laughs than a grin, and thus his "stone-faced" countenance became his trademark, together with the pratfalls, and of course a pork pie hat.

In 1917, Buster got into the movies, working in comedies with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Joseph Schenck. Keaton proved such a natural that in only a few years he had his own studio contract and was making a cool $25,000 a week with the requirement to make eight movies a year. Keaton, Vaudeville trained, could come up with his own routines without difficulty. He therefore became one of the only people who could script, direct, and star in the pictures and bring in a good box office.

Alas, in 1928, just following the release of The General, Schenck sold Keaton's contract to MGM and their bureaucratic mentality and constant meddling stifled Buster. He told off Louis B. Mayer and was fired. Buster later regained his fame but of course he never was allowed the creative control he had enjoyed during the early days of Hollywood. Thankfully, we still have The General and a few other classics to see what a genius he was.

The General is based on a true event that happened during the Civil War. Yankee spies stole a train in Marietta Georgia and drove it North, hoping to destroy the tracks and keep the Rebels from supplying their army.

Keaton took these bare facts and made a story out of it, told from the Confederate side. Buster plays an engineer who is turned down from the army because he is more valuable operating "The General," his locomotive. His girlfriend (Marion Mack) misunderstands and tells him she will never talk to him again until he is wearing a uniform. All of this is in pantomime, of course, as it is a silent film.

If you watch Buster, each sequence is full of gags (stunts) but all are organic and integrated seamlessly into the story. Nothing calls undue attention to itself and there are no quick cuts or "camera magic." Everything is done right in front of you in real time. And Buster does the most amazing stunts without looking hurried or without changing his facial expression. If you want to see probably the best slapstick comedy ever put on celluloid, this movie would be a good bet. There are plenty of technical tours-de-force that would make this review intolerably long if I mentioned them; even an actual train wreck that was the most expensive stunt ever filmed in the silent era - and maybe to date if the dollars are converted to today's values.

The General is a public domain property. That means anybody can produce and market DVDs so there are probably some horrible quality copies out there. My copy is by "Kino Video," which has a reputation for well done classic DVDs. The video is quite well preserved with only a few defects and is tinted sepia and blue in different passages. The movie has a music score arranged and directed by Robert Israel, and the movie runs 75 minutes. There are two shorter features, also included - The Playhouse (23 min.), where Buster plays the entire cast, interacting with himself in up to nine images in the same frame; and Cops (18 minutes), showing Buster being chased by hordes of policemen.

The General is number 160 on the IMDb top 250.

Thanks, Steve - you were right, this was good! and thank YOU, reader, for stopping by!

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day