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| Buster Keaton looks only slightly unnerved as the hapless title character on this drawn and painted poster for Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton's The General |
The American Civil War breaks out, and Johnny attempts to enlist in the Confederate Army, but there he is thought to be more vital in his current job as a train engineer. But then Union spies steal Johnny's train, the General - with his girl on it! And so starts a wild chase.
The General is written by Californian master co-writer/co-director Clyde Bruckman (The Fatal Glass of Beer (1933, short)) and Kansan master co-writer/co-producer/co-director/star/co-editor Buster Keaton (Boom in the Moon (1946)), with Paul Gerard Smith (It's a Joke, Son! (1947)) contributing elements, and Al Boasberg (The Fuller Gush Man (1934, short)) and Charles Henry Smith (Nobody (1921)) contributing with the adaptation process: The film adapts William Pittenger's (Daring and Suffering, A History of the Great Locomotive Adventures (1963)) account of his experiences in the actual Great Locomotive Chase of 1862.
Keaton's enormous comedic talent and derring-do is on full display in The General, which is also a technically deeply impressive film, for example for its many high-speed traveling shots of Keaton and his not exactly petite sweetheart (played by Marion Mack (The Carnival Girl (1926))) fooling around.
The seemingly endless traps and gags are smartly incorporated into the story, which culminates in a panorama of war, which in terms of firepower, gunpowder, bombs and stunts is nothing short of awe-inspiring. There is simply no way in which The General does not lift its audience's spirits.
Related posts:
Clyde Bruckman: For Heaven's Sake (1926) - Lloyd's antics unleashed in a missionary setting (co-writer)
Buster Keaton: The Electric House (1922, short) - Keaton introduces electricity with hilarious results in great short (co-writer/co-director/star)
Watch a recent HD trailer for the film here
Cost: 750k $
Box office: Reportedly 1 mil. $
= Big flop (returned 1.33 times its cost)
[The General premiered 25 December (El Paso, Texas) and runs around 75 minutes, (some versions are shorter.) Keaton was a train history fan and attempted to rent the real General locomotive to use in the film but was refused. He instead bought 3 locomotives for use in the film, and was initially given a 400k $ budget. Keaton and Bruckman traveled to Oregon in 18 freight cars with cannons, stagecoaches, houses, three 33 mm cameras and the cast and crew. Shooting took place in Oregon and California from June - September 1926. A press release stated that the film had 3,000 people on the pay roll and cost 400 $ an hour to make. On-set accidents contributed to the ballooning costs: Keaton getting knocked unconscious; an assistant director getting shot in the face with a blank cartridge; a train wheel running over a brakeman's foot; and the train's wood-burning engine causing numerous haystack fires. The town Cottage Growe declared a local holiday on the day of the shooting of the climactic train wreck scene, and 3-4,000 curious locals showed up, including 500 extras from the Oregon National Guard in uniforms. The shot took hours to prepare and carry out and cost 42k $, thus becoming the costliest single shot in silent film history. However, the later shot from The General of the Texas locomotive crashing into the river from a burning bridge was as expensive. The wreckage was left in the river but salvaged for scrap metal during WWII. A large fire broke out during shooting of a major fight scene, costing the production 50k $, as everyone went back to Los Angeles for a few weeks, while the heavy smoke cleared! Several of the shots in the film that features Keaton himself were extremely dangerous and could have easily turned deadly, had anything gone wrong. The general US release of the film was delayed due to the success of Flesh and the Devil (1926). It made just 474k $ in the US and became Keaton's biggest flop, though he took great pride in The General and called it his best film. The failure meant that Keaton lost his artistic independence and accepted a restrictive deal with MGM. The film fell into public domain in the US in 1954 and can be seen free and legally right here. It may have turned a profit since with several re-releases in many countries. IMDb's users have voted the film in at #196 on the site's Top 250, sitting between Catch Me If You Can (2002) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). Keaton returned in College (1927), for which his co-direction received no credit; Bruckman returned with Horse Shoes (1927). The General is certified fresh at 93 % with a 9.09/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of The General?
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