About The General (1926)
The story behind the film
The General is Buster Keaton's Civil War comedy, inspired by a real event: the Great Locomotive Chase of April 1862, when Union raiders stole a Confederate train in Georgia and were pursued by its crew. Keaton and co-director Clyde Bruckman adapted the story from William Pittenger's 1889 memoir of the raid, but told it from the Southern engineer's side and turned it into an adventure comedy.
Keaton plays Johnnie Gray, a railroad engineer in Marietta, Georgia, who loves two things: his locomotive, The General, and Annabelle Lee. Rejected by the army (he's more useful as an engineer, though nobody tells him), he's branded a coward by Annabelle. When Union spies steal his train — with Annabelle on board — Johnnie chases them single-handedly, first on foot, then by handcar, bicycle and another locomotive, before the chase reverses and he has to run for home.
Keaton wanted authenticity. The production was filmed largely in Oregon, around Cottage Grove, where the crew found period-looking narrow-gauge railways and bought old locomotives to play the trains. It was an expensive film for its time, and it did poorly with critics and audiences on release — a disappointment that contributed to Keaton losing his independence and signing with MGM.
Cast & crew
- Directed by Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman
- Buster Keaton as Johnnie Gray
- Marion Mack as Annabelle Lee
- Glen Cavender as Captain Anderson, leader of the Union raiders
- Jim Farley as General Thatcher
- Produced by Joseph M. Schenck; released by United Artists
Why it's worth watching
Today The General is regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, and it's easy to see why. Keaton performs astonishing stunts himself — riding the moving locomotive's cowcatcher while clearing railroad ties off the track, sitting on the drive rods as the wheels start to turn — and never breaks his famous deadpan expression. The gags are built out of the machinery itself: cannons, switches, water tanks and logs on the line.
It is also beautifully shot, with long, clear compositions that let you see exactly how each gag works. Many modern action filmmakers cite Keaton's chase scenes as an influence.
Fun facts
- The climactic shot of a locomotive crashing through a burning bridge into the river used a real engine. The production left the wreck in the riverbed, where it became a minor tourist attraction for nearly twenty years until it was salvaged for scrap during World War II.
- The General was among the first 25 films selected for the Library of Congress's National Film Registry in 1989.
- The real locomotive called The General survives and is displayed at the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History in Kennesaw, Georgia.
Public-domain status
The General was published in 1926, and its US copyright has expired (Wikipedia notes the registration was not renewed in 1954). It is in the public domain in the United States. We broadcast it with a public-domain (CC0) piano score; see "Rights & source" below.