The General (1926) Review

Yes, movies used to be silent, and yes, they were still great. The General from 1926 is the proof. Buster Keaton stars has a railroad engineer in the South during the Civil War. After an attack on Fort Sumpter, there was a surge of people wanting to enlist to fight for the South. Buster Keaton's Johnny Grey was one of those people, but was turned down because he could be a better assistance on the railroad. This was my only complaint about the film. I understand why he was turned down, but I don't understand why they never told him he was turned down. He even tries to pass through the line again, and they still don't tell him. I understand the need for him not to be enlisted; the whole film relies on him being turned down, but the excuse seemed too weak to support the rest of the film. For the movie's sake they can't tell him why, and in that regard they should have used another excuse. Onward and upward, when the North lays out a plan to hijack Johnny's train, The General, and follows through, he must get his train back, get his girl back, and warn the South that the North is coming on a sneak attack.

The General is filled with tension, comedy, and drama and all of it works. As any good silent film star, Keaton needs no words to describe what he is doing. He is the only character in the movie worth watching, but he is so big and so great that you get very involved in his quest. I was very aggrivated by the girl in the film, but she was only there for story. There is not much more to say. The film is a short 78 minutes, which works well with the silent format. The General delivers more in it's 78 runtime than most modern films do in two hours. There is a lot to be said about a movie that uses all of it's time on important scenes and dismisses filler just for sake of stretching out the film. If you worry that the film is too old to bother with, I urge you to change your mind.