The General

The General_360P

source: The General

I have watched The General twice and my opinion of it has remained virtually unchanged. I find that it simply isn't all that funny, and overall not very engaging. Oddly, the funniest scenes are the ones involving the actress Marion Mack, like when she throws away a piece of firewood because it has a hole in it. I'm aware that many regard this movie highly, and I honestly wish I enjoyed it more. But its really quite drab.

The General

Buster Keaton always amazes me. He was truly one of the most hilarious deadpan screen clowns of early cinema. 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. It's nothing fantastic like some of his other films, but it's still funny. And I think the strongest point of his comedy is his completely stonefaced response to all adversity--but he lets you see just a little his plight in his eyes and it's just enough to know that he is frightened, but that the rest of him doesn't react similarly creates such an amusing dissociation that it goes from bizarre to funny. Whether he's pratfalling due to surprise or erroneously succeeding at something he's unskilled in and being shocked by it, that response of his is winning. But the General does show its age a little. It exists in a time when people were still getting quite used to movies and so there is a lot of space that doesn't get edited out to help people get a better sense of the context. I wouldn't dare cut those moments out of this film, even if I could re-edit it, because the space always had something going on, but at the same time, this film, if made today, would be cut to one-and-a-half, or two hours and pack in the comedy more tightly. The plot and story are simple, but exist more than to just help the comedy move along--except at the end when the first story was accomplished. Then we move into a second extraneous, but still amusing, story regarding a battle between the North and the South that could've been excised and still having a decent, though simple, story. I didn't really love the score that the DVD company attached to it, which is a number of classical pieces end on end. I think a new commissioned soundtrack would've better matched the piece, but I guess we get what we get. And on the plus side, you can always mute the movie and play whatever on top of it. Is it perfect? No. But despite the age it shows, it still holds up as an enjoyable work from one of cinema's greatest physical comedians. If you want to spend three hours with a silent clown, this is not a bad way to go. 8/10.

1862, Georgia, USA. The American Civil War is in its second year and Johnnie Gray is barred from enlisting. He is a train engineer and the Confederate Army feel he is more valuable to the Southern cause in his current role than in the army. This frustrates Johnnie and has estranged him from his sweetheart Annabelle, who views him as a coward. Then his beloved engine, The General, is stolen by Union spies and is heading for Union lines. Moreover, Annabelle is on board. 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. This is a rollicking adventure complete with wonderfully thought-out and performed physical comedy and other sight gags. Some very clever use of the plot to generate the comedy. The plot itself isn't overly profound, but crams in a lot of action and adventure, plus some romance. Very entertaining.

This is a decent silent comedy, but I think that Keaton did better. I don't know how available it is, but I watched his Our Hospitality in a film class, and I laughed out loud, and quite hard. I think it's a lot better the General made me laugh quietly a couple of times. It's really repetitive, too. All the train scenes seemed the same. Plus, The General doesn't give us many close ups of Keaton's amazing face. Our Hospitality shows several hilarious reaction shots.

THE GENERAL spends so much time depicting BUSTER KEATON on the rails that it should have been called "The Runaway Train". Filmed in Oregon, with all of the outdoor scenes photographed attractively in sepia-tone, it's regarded as one of Keaton's best works. His dexterity with physical comedy is never better paraded in a motion picture than it is here. He's climbing aboard the train from every conceivable angle as he tries to block the path of the pursuing Union Army who have stolen "The General" (his train) and aims to get the message to the Southern army of the Union plan of attack. It's a lavish production and obviously a lot of attention to detail was spent in giving THE GENERAL Grade-A production values. TCM is showing a pristine print of the film, complete with good background music, courtesy of The Alloy Orchestra. Frankly, I think all the train scenes became a little tedious after the first forty-five minutes with a lot of repetition dulling my interest in the outcome of the story. Summing up: Fans of Keaton will have a field day enjoying his bumbling character and all of his physical feats as he struggles to win the stolen train from the enemy.

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. The version I saw was also surprisingly well preserved, considering this was made in 1927. Marian Mack (as Anabelle Lee) made a good romantic match for Keaton as Annabelle, kidnapped by the Union Army, whom Johnny sets out to rescue. In the midst of his journey Johnny discovers secret Union battle plans that he needs to report, and the fun takes off from there. There are a few tedious moments to the story. The first train chase was fun, but once it had gone on for about five minutes I felt I had had enough and really wanted to get back to the story. Then, to get back, Johnny ends up in another train chase that was largely a repeat of the first. As I said, after the first five minutes or so of the first train chase, I found all that pretty slow going. But the story was entertaining and well acted and directed. Personally, I wouldn't call this a masterpiece of the silent era, but it's a good movie nonetheless. 6/10

"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 handled the lead role well and the supporting cast was also solid. The film has impressive cinematography and a score that is good at first, but becomes repetitive. The enlistment scene near the beginning was amusing. As was the "under the table" scene and the point were a group of Union soldiers desperately try to fix a part in the train tracks near the end. The film's battle scene was well-shot and amusing and the ending of the film was well-done. Where this film languishes is in the overly long stretch of scenes on the trains, which, while well-shot, become repetitive. I didn't find a lot of humor in the train scenes, which makes the train scenes seem mostly like a precursor to modern action films rather than comedy. Since a lot of the film is consumed by the repetitive train chases, I was left disappointed.