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• the general of cinema

  • Peter Wilson
  • 11/7/11

  the Greatest Silent Film And One Of The Greatest Films Of Ever Made.

• The General (1927)

  • Mark Sutch
  • 4/5/11

  *****

• The General

  • Natacha
  • 9/10/10

  One of the best silent films available, and not just for train buffs, but they love it too. Story takes place during the U.S. Civil War. Keaton's character is an engineer, and tries to enlist as a soldier, but his services were determined to be better used as an engineer. Loosely based on actual events, the opposing army steals a train during the Civil War, which is the true part, but Keaton's girlfriend is accidentally on board, which is the fiction part. Keaton must stop them and save his girlfriend as well as the cause, and does so with his unique form of dry humor and physicality. Worth seeing for entertainment purposes, but also to learn about how wood-fired steam engines operated, if you like trains.

• The Geeneral, maybe the Greatest Silent Movie !

  • nshepard
  • 7/5/10

  The US. Ciivil War is destryoing America, so our boy Johnnie Gray(Joseph "Buster" Keaton) so aptly named by World Famous Magician Harry Houdini wants to enlist in the Confederate Army, but is denied due to the fact his is more qualified to help as a train engineer. His love interest Annabelle Lee(Marion Mack) cannot have anything to do with him , until she has her Fathers approval, and he goes off to war. A year passes and the Union Army devises a plan to steal a Confederate train, and sabatoge their supply lines on their return, by burning the bridges. Our hero Buster learns of the plans and his adventures ensue. Brrillantly co-directed by Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton their work shines as an overmatched engineer who outwits, outplays, and outlasts the Union Army in a series of chases , confrontations, and complex tete'-e-tete'. Keaton demonstrates his wide range of skills on a consummate level few peformers achieve. If you want to study film, study Keaton and learn. This film may be the Best Silent film of them all. It gets a 5 out of 5 stars.

• Musical score information

  • maria
  • 6/13/08

  The Alloy Orchestra provides the stunning musical score to the version aired by TCM. If you want a copy of the film with that same score, do not purchase through the link on this page. You must order from The Alloy Orchestra directly to get the version with the music that airs on TCM. Not to be snarky, but it's puzzling that TCM does not provide this information and links purchasers to a version that is not the same that airs on their network.

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