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The General (Keaton)
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Our DVD Price: £15.99 RRP: 
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DVD £7.99
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Film Description
Keaton is on top form as the Confederate train driver rejected for civil war service, but who nevertheless fearlessly sets off in pursuit of his girlfriend and the eponymous engine, hijacked together by dastardly Unionist spies. Meticulously evoking the period, overflowing with the invention, serene timing and deadpan charm typical of its ever-resourceful hero, this is a veritable treat.
Film Information
| Director | Buster Keaton | ||||
| Starring | Buster Keaton
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| Genre | Silent Film
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| Country | USA | Language | SILENT | Year | 1926 |
DVD Extras
Two discs; Fully restored high definition version of the film; Introduction by David Robinson; Short featurette on the movie restoration; Featurette on recording the 2004 score; Choice of scores: Robert Israel's 1995 score (mono) and a new (2004) score from Joe Hisaishi (in 5.1 Surround Sound); The Railrodder - 25 minute follow-up to the General; Buster Keaton Rides Again - 55 minute documentary; Filming The General featurette; 7-minute extract from tinted version; Orson Welles presents The General; Return of The General short film; The Iron Mule film short; Alice's Tin Pony - Disney cartoon; The Great Locomotive Chase - trailer for Disney film; Filmography featurette.
Technical Details
| Certificate | U | Length | 94 + 144 mins | Label | CCLUB | ||
| Cat No | CCD30174 | Format | DVD | Black & White | |||
| Region | 2 | Aspect | 1.33:1 | ||||
3 Stills
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Share your thoughts and opinions - write a review
Review by Graeme Hobbs on 1st April 2005
The General is one of Keaton’s most perfectly realised films. With a large budget and two renovated period locomotives at his disposal, he set out to recreate an authentic Civil War backdrop to his tale of a Confederate engine driver who chases a stolen train into Unionist territory, rescues his kidnapped girl and manages to return home to warn of an impending attack.
One of the film’s most impressive feats is the full integration of its comedy into the storyline. There are no superfluous gags, and frantic slapstick is replaced by a more measured approach to humour. Keaton’s athleticism and his acrobatic skill is of course still present. The miracle is that his delicacy of timing has been upgraded to the scale of locomotives which take curves, stop, reverse and nudge each other exactly when needed and with no trick photography involved either.
Keaton’s risks to himself on set are legendary and an early scene in The General is typical. Dejected, he sits on the driving rod of the locomotive and is slowly carried around on the bar as the engine moves off. It’s a gentle fade-out gag that merits a smile, yet a fraction too much steam and the wheel would have been set spinning, with serious injury the result. Half an hour into the film, Keaton himself starts an engine up and you see then exactly what he was risking. The scene also allies his physicality with impeccable comic timing as he realises with a start just before entering a tunnel that he actually is being carried round on the driving-rod.
Keaton’s reputation was for stone-faced acceptance of whatever fate had in store. His face though is actually alive with emotions – his brilliance was that he realised it was enough to merely think them.
View more reviews by Graeme Hobbs
Review by John Davies on 10th October 2002
In THE GENERAL, the silent screen's "chivalrous angel" Buster Keaton is on top form as a Confederate train driver rejected for civil war service, who fearlessly sets off in pursuit of his girlfriend and eponymous engine, hijacked together by dastardly Unionist spies. Meticulously evoking the period, overflowing with the invention, serene timing and deadpan charm typical of its ever resourceful hero, it's a veritable treat.
View more reviews by John Davies
Article - "Beautiful Spring; 10 Silent Classics"
by John Davies
Monday 23rd September 2002
I hope with this selection both to challenge the prevailing notion of silent cinema as hopelessly primitive, and to encourage pleasurable discovery. Spurred by pioneers like the aptly named Lumiere brothers and Georges Melies, (whose fantasies seem sprinkled with mag... View article in full
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This film is part of the following Film Collections
Sight and Sound Critics Choice 2002
Including: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Andrei Rublev, Au Hasard Balthazar, Bicycle Thieves, Breathless (Godard, 1959), City Lights, Fanny and Alexander, Fellinis 8 1/2, Intolerance, Ivan The Terrible (Parts 1 & 2).
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Films With Trains In by Ben Dutton
Cinema began with the train, so it's only fair that we explore the relationship between the engine and film...
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