Saturday, April 12 / 7 pm
Directed by Clyde Bruckman & Buster Keaton
1926, USA, 80 min
A massive flop in its release, The General is an outstanding achievement of silent comedy stunt gags that often look every bit as good as contemporary equivalents. Set during the American civil war, when a locomotive is stolen by Union soldiers, a train engineer risks his life to rescue the engine and his girl. Buster Plays Johnny Gray, a train engineer who adores both his locomotive, The General and girlfriend Annabelle Lee. Kevin MacDonald says “it is amazing not to fathom that Buster Keaton’s The General also was a box office bomb and almost ruined his career when it came out in 1927. It is now overwhelmingly considered his best movie and one of the best silent movies ever.”
