Cinema
The General
Buster Keaton · 1926
Synopsis
Marietta, Georgia, in the spring of 1861. Johnnie Gray, a locomotive engineer, loves two things, his locomotive, the General, and Annabelle Lee. When war is declared, he rushes to enlist; he is turned down without being told why, because he is more useful on his machine, and Annabelle will not see him again until he wears the uniform. A year later, Northern spies steal the General during the meal stop, with Annabelle on board, in order to cut the line by burning the bridges. Johnnie sets off alone in pursuit, on foot, on a handcar, then on another locomotive.
Context
For a single shot, its maker had the pursuers' locomotive plunged from a bridge into the Row River in Oregon: about forty-two thousand dollars, the most expensive scene of the silent era. The wreck stayed in the river for some twenty years, becoming a curiosity, and was recovered for scrap during the Second World War. He performed his own stunts and had broken his neck on an earlier shoot without realising it, as an X-ray revealed to him years later. The film cost 750,000 dollars and earned only about 474,000 in the United States; after this failure, the actor lost his independence.
Who it is for
A silent film of about seventy-eight minutes, with real stunts performed by the lead actor himself. The story follows a railway line out and then back.
Prizes and reception
Poorly received on release, it entered the Library of Congress list in 1989; the magazine Sight and Sound ranked it eighth in its 1972 poll.
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