The General: Buster Keaton, Marion Mack, Glen Cavender, Frederick Vroom (1926 Movie)

DVD: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002NTDX6O/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=d...

http://thefilmarchive.org/

The General is a 1926 American silent comedy film released by United Artists based upon the Great Locomotive Chase from 1862. Buster Keaton starred in the film and co-directed it with Clyde Bruckman. It was adapted by Al Boasberg, Bruckman, Keaton, Charles Henry Smith (uncredited) and Paul Girard Smith (uncredited) from the memoir The Great Locomotive Chase by William Pittenger. The film was a box-office disaster at its original release, but is now considered by critics as one of the greatest films ever made.

In 1861, Western & Atlantic Railroad train engineer Johnnie Gray (Buster Keaton) is in Marietta, Georgia to see one of the two loves of his life, his fiancee Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack) (the other being his locomotive, the "General"), when the American Civil War breaks out. He hurries to be first in line to sign up with the Confederate Army, but is rejected (without explanation) because he is too valuable to the Confederacy in his present job. On leaving, he comes across Annabelle's father and brother, who beckon to him to join them in line, but he sadly walks away, giving them the impression that he does not want to enlist. Annabelle coldly informs Johnnie that she will not speak to him again until he is in uniform.

A year passes, and Annabelle receives word that her father has been wounded. She travels north on the General to see him, but still wants nothing to do with Johnnie. When the train makes a stop, the passengers detrain for a quick meal. As planned, Union spies led by Captain Anderson (Glen Cavender) use the opportunity to steal the train. Annabelle becomes an inadvertent prisoner. Johnnie gives chase, first on foot, then by handcar and boneshaker bicycle, before reaching a station in Chattanooga. He alerts the army detachment there, which boards another train to give chase, with Johnnie manning the locomotive, the "Texas". However, the flatcars are not hooked up to the engine, and the troops are left behind. By the time Johnnie realizes he is alone, it is too late to turn back.

The Union agents try a variety of methods to shake their dogged pursuer (convinced he is accompanied by Confederate soldiers), including disconnecting their trailing car and dropping railroad ties on the tracks. As the unusual duel continues northward, the Confederate Army of Tennessee is ordered to retreat and the Northern army advances in its wake. Johnnie finally notices he is surrounded by Union soldiers and the hijackers see that Johnnie is by himself. Johnnie stops his locomotive and runs into the forest to hide.

Cast Buster Keaton — Johnnie Gray Marion Mack— Annabelle Lee Glen Cavender — Captain Anderson Jim Farley — General Thatcher Frederick Vroom — A Confederate General Charles Henry Smith — Annabelle's Father (as Charles Smith) Frank Barnes — Annabelle's Brother Joe Keaton — Union General Mike Donlin — Union General Tom Nawn — Union General

The General on its initial release fared poorly in both box office and critical reaction. Variety reported of a theater in which it played, "after four weeks of record business with 'Flesh and the Devil', looks as though it were virtually going to starve to death this week." It goes on to say that The General is "far from funny" and that "it is a flop." New York Times reviewer Mordaunt Hall stated, "The production itself is singularly well mounted, but the fun is not exactly plentiful", and "This is by no means so good as Mr. Keaton's previous efforts." The Los Angeles Times reported that the picture is "neither straight comedy nor is it altogether thrilling drama" and goes on to state that the picture "drags terribly with a long and tiresome chase of one engine by another." It was one of Keaton's worst pictures at the box office.

Keaton considered it to be the best of all his movies. Audiences and critics would later agree with him, and it is now considered a major classic of the silent era.

In 1989, The General was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It made it into the registry in the first year it was enacted, along with such films as The Best Years of Our Lives, Casablanca, Citizen Kane, Gone with the Wind, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Sunset Blvd.

In a 2002 poll of critics and filmmakers on the best films ever made, critic Roger Ebert listed it on his top 10. It is also on his list of Great Movies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_General_%281926_film%29

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• general
• confederate
• train
• love
• spy
• escape
• attack
• rescue
• soldier
• locomotive
• army
• pursuit
• girl
• forest
• farce
• exploding
• car
• photograph
• surprise
• big
• shanty
• georgia
• beautiful
• woman
• shooting
• knocked
• unconscious
• death
• of
• mother
• lost
• kidnapping
• american
• civil
• war
• man
• in
• railway
• robbery
• sleeping
• on
• floor
• tracks
• military
• uniform
• rose
• history
• charlie
• jack
• documentary
• editing
• montage
• widescreen

[FullMetal423]

Sound?