The General (1926)

Buster Keaton’s most lavish production and his warmest, bringing together a boy, a girl and a train amid the maelstrom of the US Civil War.

Taking inspiration from a real Civil War incident when Union soldiers hijacked a Confederate train, The General was silent comedian Buster Keaton’s most grandly conceived project. The train driver who goes in dogged pursuit of his beloved engine is a classic Keaton character: stoical, determined and preternaturally straight-faced as chaos reigns around him.

The film is a seamless blend of action and comedy, involving a great number of stunts – including the famous sequence in which a bridge bearing a railroad train collapses into a gorge. The great expense that such moments incurred was remembered when the film was a commercial disaster, to the cost of Keaton’s future creative freedoms. Only decades later was The General recognised as one of silent cinema’s greatest comedies.

“It has the best script of any Keaton film. Each visual concept is unique and ingenious. Artistry of the highest level, and it’s hilarious!” Robert Mitchell

“The high-water mark for action movies for close to a hundred years. Keaton’s innovation and fearlessness were second to none and his screen persona still electrifies today.” Andrei Liimets

“Breathtaking comic episodes elegantly composed and edited by an auteur with the mind of a civil engineer.” Noël Carroll

“Laughter is universal, and no one was funnier than Keaton in his prime.” Robert Cashill

1926 USA
Directed by
Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman
Written by
Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman
Featuring
Buster Keaton, Jack Lowe, Jack Hanlon
Running time
90 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for The General

Critics

Geoff Andrew
UK
João Antunes
Portugal
David Cairns
UK
Noël Carroll
USA
Robert Cashill
USA
Sean Cubitt
UK/Australia
Thomas Doherty
USA
Christophe Dupin
Belgium
Glenn Erickson
USA
Steven Foxon
UK
Sonia Genaitay
UK
Andrea Glawogger
Austria
James Harrison
UK
Bill Horrigan
USA
Laurent Jullier
France
Philip Kemp
UK
Robert Koehler
USA
Jay Kuehner
USA
Andrei Liimets
Estonia
Scott MacDonald
USA
Bob Mastrangelo
USA
Patrick McGilligan
USA
Robert Mitchell
UK
Edward Porter
UK
Rainer Rother
Germany
Christine Rüffert
Germany
Dan Sallitt
USA
Isabel Stevens
UK
Gerwin Tamsma
Netherlands
Rosie Taylor
UK
Anne Thompson
USA

Directors

Hanna Bergholm
Finland
Neil Jordan
Ireland
Hlynur Pálmason
Iceland
Athina Rachel Tsangari
Greece

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