The General

Dir. Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman.
U.S. 1926.
75 min. (Total time: 116 mins.) B&W.
(with music track)

Consistently ranked among the greatest films ever made, Director/actor Buster Keaton's one-man show is a Civil War espionage spoof with Keaton's celebrated dry wit, and spectacular war action. Confederate Johnny Gray almost wins the war single-handedly as he goes behind Northern lines to recover a locomotive.

Insisting on accuracy in every detail, Keaton created a remarkably authentic historical epic, replete with hundreds of costumed extras, full-scale sets, and the breathtaking plunge of an actual locomotive from burning bridge into a river. "Every shot has the authenticity and the unassuming correct composition of a Matthew Brady Civil War photograph," wrote film historian David Robinson, "No one -- not even Griffith or Huston and certainly not Fleming (Gone With The Wind) -- caught the visual aspect of the Civil War as Keaton did."

Available in 35mm & 16mm