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Contains mild comic violencePoorly received on its initial release in late 20s America, Keaton's The General is one of the most enduring comedies to have emerged from the silent movie era. The expressively deadpan Keaton stars as the Confederate railroad engineer, pursuing his favourite locomotive (The General) and his sweetheart Annabelle (Marion Mack), who have been abducted by Union spies. Accompanied by Carl Davis' stirring score, the film is an inspired blend of slapstick humour, dynamic action and succinct storytelling.
There's an impressively classical symmetry to The General's construction. In the first half Keaton's hero Johnnie Gray heads northwards in pursuit of the enemy soldiers, amusingly encountering various obstacles en route, such as slashed telegraph wires, switched points, uncoupled carriages and logs thrown onto the track. And in the second half the roles are reversed and Johnnie is now fleeing southwards from the Yankees, deploying the very props that had previously hindered his progress to great comic effect.
"REMARKABLY GRACEFUL"
Keaton realized how cinema could break free from the shackles of the stage, and accordingly shot this feature-length work in authentic outdoor locations, evocatively recreating the Civil War milieu and using pioneering tracking shots to give audiences a sense of thrilling motion. Best of all there is Keaton's remarkably graceful and athletic performance, for which he carried out all his own stunts whilst maintaining his stoical demeanour. An unsentimental tribute to the virtues of ingenuity, quick-thinking and pragmatism in the face of a hostile world, The General remains an undisputed classic.
