THE GENERAL
US, 1926, 80 minutes, Black and white.
Buster Keaton, Marion Mack, Glen Cavander.
Directed by Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman.
The General is a classic comedy written and co-directed by Buster Keaton, starring himself. It comes from 1926, the end of the silent era.
The film capitalises on the strengths of silent film-making. Keaton himself (never smiling) provides a great deal of personal comedy as well as slapstick and acrobatics. There are excellent stunts and effects with two main sequences - Keaton pursuing a train, and then the return trip with his being pursued.
While the film has fixed camera, there is a great deal of movement. There are also interesting interiors in the southern town as well as the train and exteriors with vast numbers of soldiers fighting in the civil war.
The film Is considered a comedy classic - with both Keaton himself, his persona, and the special effects with the train. One can see how later film-makers were influenced by various sequences, for example such train comedies as The Silver Streak or even Danny Kaye under the table with the spies in Knock on Wood, echoing Keaton's scene under the table as the Union generals make their plans.
The film is based on a true incident which was dramatised seriously by Disney in the '50s as The Great Locomotive Chase.
1. The work of Buster Keaton, his screen persona, serious hero, acrobatic style? His personal comedy?
2. The film industry in the 1920s, techniques, black and white photography, fixed camera. action, crowd sequences, the countryside, sets?
3. The background of the civil war, sympathy for the South, antipathy for the North?
4. Buster Keaton's Johnny Gray: simple man, driving the General, his engineering skills, the break-out of the war, his love for the girl, his courting her, the enlistment sequence and his many attempts to enlist, his being spurned by the heroine and her father, the train being stolen, the girl on board, his pursuit?
5. The central focus on the train sequences: the use of outdoor locations, the focus on the engine, the devices for delay with the taking up of the rails, no rails, the sleepers on the track, the burning carriage, etc? His pursuit of the train? Farcical touches, for example with the water spraying everyone? The cannon and its facing the engine, firing at the bend of the rails? The bridge sequence?
6. Johnny hearing the plans under the table, the comedy under the table, the girl in the other room, the rescue, the escape, the night in the countryside?
7. The reverse trip, the slow train, the devices for warding off the Union pursuers. Johnny on and off the train?
8. The build-up to the fight, the generals and the officers, the sniper and the dead soldiers around the cannon, his capture of the Union leader?
9. His becoming a lieutenant, his heroics - and the final kissing of the heroine with the continued salute?
10. Keaton and his human touch, the blend of slapstick and farce with more serious tones?
11. A piece of Americana, memories of the civil war? Comic viewpoint?
