Carlos André Well, it's fair enough that almost every living soul on Earth knows about Charlie Chaplin, even though they have probably never seing one of his movie, and this is great, Chaplin was indeed a genious, one of (if not the) greatest of all time. But man, it's really sad that few people know about Buster Keaton.I say that because I'm a living example of it, I didn't know the guy until a couple of months ago, when I really started to dig in Silent Movies, so, I really believe 90% of the movie goers don't know who he is, and it's sad, but from know on I will try to "spread his word as much as I can.But ok, let's talk about the movie itself. The General is timeless, and to me this is the greatest complement any art form can receive, the movie is almost 100 years-old, and still holds up, and will continue to hold up 100 years from now. Do you want a pratical example? My most delightful experience in watching this movie was that I've seen it with my sister, who is 11 years-old and isn't that much into movies, I've tried to show her a couple of my favorite ones, but not like this one, this was her first time ever seing a movie this old, and, man! She had a great time watching it. At first she was a little uncertain about it, but with something like 20 minutes within the movie she was already laughing with a bunch of different scenes (I didn't laugh that much, but the movie is still truly fun). And really, this is for me the best way to say how great this movie is.Keaton's performance is irreproachable, he is a comedy genious. One thing that almost impresses me is his style of filming, it's truly impressive to see how well he captures the Train's moviment throught the whole movie. This movie has other amazing sequences, like the battle in the end, there is a big amount of extras, and you buy the side of it. Others scenes, like the train falling into the lake, or all the horses passing throught the lake, are amazing. That shot where he is working above the train, and the war is happening at full potential behind him is geniously, it's at the same time a clever joke, and a stunning scale of filming.In fact, I saw here on IMDb that aparrently the movie's budget wast 750.000 dollars, which back then was a insane budget for a movie, so, that's explains a lot. Overall, I'm just glad that Keaton was able to "assemble" that much money to do the movie.To sum up, The General is a masterpiece, from one of the genious of slient film, Keaton and Chaplin are with no doubt two of the most influential actors in movies (even today). Keaton was a genious, and this movie is a masterpiece. Timeless. C'mon! The guy destroyed A REAL TRAIN! If that's isn't reason enough to see this movie, I don't know what is.

grantss 1862, Georgia, USA. The American Civil War is in its second year and Johnnie Gray is barred from enlisting. He is a train engineer and the Confederate Army feel he is more valuable to the Southern cause in his current role than in the army. This frustrates Johnnie and has estranged him from his sweetheart Annabelle, who views him as a coward. Then his beloved engine, The General, is stolen by Union spies and is heading for Union lines. Moreover, Annabelle is on board. Johnnie sets off after the two loves of his life.Great comedy from the silent era, directed and starring one of the greatest comedy directors and actors of that era, Buster Keaton. This is a rollicking adventure complete with wonderfully thought-out and performed physical comedy and other sight gags. Some very clever use of the plot to generate the comedy.The plot itself isn't overly profound, but crams in a lot of action and adventure, plus some romance.Very entertaining.

Prismark10 To me Buster Keaton is more unknown compared to his other silent era rivals like Harold Lloyd or Charlie Chaplain whose work were shown more often on British television. Maybe Chaplain is more appreciated in Britain because he was British.The General is an epic silent comedy and at the time was an expensive undertaking comprising of many extras, dangerous stunts and a steam engine falling from a burning bridge.Set during the Civil War Keaton plays a devoted train engineer called Johnny Gray who tries to enlist in the Confederate Army to impress his girl and is turned down because he is more valuable as an engineer but no one tells him that was the reason.His girl think he is a coward who refused to join and will have nothing to do with him until he shows up in uniform. Some months later his beloved steam engine his stolen by Unionist soldiers and in a serious of escapades he tries to recover it and also rescue his girl.It is an elaborate chase film with for the time some clever sequences and slapstick. However it does go on too long as a chase film and despite some flourishes it does not showcase Keaton's acrobatic skills as much as I desired.The film was inspired by a true incident but to a modern viewer you still feel ill at ease that even 90 years ago the Confederate South was somehow being painted as heroic.

GManfred Enjoyed "The General" and it was a quick 70 minutes. Buster Keaton, of course, is from another era, when motion pictures were more visual (before sound). They relied on sight gags and optical wizardry and "The General" succeeds in spades.Haven't really seen much of Buster Keaton but his stunt work was impressive, even if his deadpan brand of humor is an acquired taste. The film is very good but I would stop short of calling it one of the all-time greats, as the TCM host claimed. But the story moved at a good pace and was interesting and absorbing. Can't ask for more than that, can you?