14

The General
Release date 5th February 1927
Country:  USA
Running time: 75 minutes
Genre : Comedy
Starring Buster Keaton
Screenplay by Al Boasberg, Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman
Directed by Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman


Johnnie Gray has two major loves in his life : his engine and his girlfriend Annabelle.
When both are captured by Union spies he goes off in hot pursuit.

Unfortunately, this great film hasn't always enjoyed a great reputation. At the time of its initial release it actually lost money, and the critics were nearly unanimous in their negative reactions to it. Yet this is a meticulously crafted work of cinematic genius. What many find most impressive about the film is its realistic rendering of its Civil War setting based on Matthew Brady's famous pictures. Buster Keaton was renowned for both his concern for historical accuracy and for the care he took in making sure that the backgrounds of his carefully composed shots were interesting and appropriate.

Keaton was initially inspired by The Great Locomotive Chase, William Pittenger's account of an actual Civil War event. In 1862, Pittenger and nineteen other out-of-uniform Union soldiers made their way to Atlanta, stole a train,and headed north for Chattanooga, destroying bridges as they went.

Fascinated by this story, Keaton chose to tell it from the perspective of the Southerners, then set about finding the best place to re-create the events.He learned that Oregon was laced with narrow-gauge train tracks like those used during the Civil War. 

Fortunately, there were also a number of old train engines that serviced the area's lumber camps, and three of these were remodeled to suit the film's purposes. Keaton determined to capture the scope of the real events used 500 members of the Oregon National Guard as extras.

                                                                                                                        



Poster from
The Oldies.com