The General (1926 film)
| The General | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by |
Clyde Bruckman Buster Keaton |
| Produced by |
Joseph Schenck Buster Keaton |
| Screenplay by |
Al Boasberg Clyde Bruckman Buster Keaton Charles Henry Smith Paul Girard Smith |
| Based on |
The Great Locomotive Chase by William Pittenger |
| Starring | Buster Keaton Marion Mack |
| Music by |
Carl Davis (1987) Robert Israel (1995) Baudime Jam (1999) Joe Hisaishi (2004) Timothy Brock (2005) |
| Cinematography | Bert Haines Devereaux Jennings |
| Edited by | Buster Keaton Sherman Kell |
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Production
company |
Buster Keaton Productions
Joseph M. Schenck Productions |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
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Release date
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Running time
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75 minutes (8 reels) (times vary with different versions) |
| Country | United States |
| Language |
Silent film English intertitles |
| Budget | $750,000 ($10,146,147 today) |
| Box office | $1,000,000 (worldwide) |
The General is a 1926 American silent comedy film released by United Artists. Inspired by the Great Locomotive Chase, a true story of an event that occurred during American Civil War. The story was adapted from the memoir The Great Locomotive Chase by William Pittenger. The film stars Buster Keaton who co-directed it with Clyde Bruckman.
At the time of its initial release, The General, an action-adventure-comedy made toward the end of the silent era, was not well received by critics and audiences, resulting in mediocre box office returns (about a half million dollars domestically, and approximately one million worldwide). Because of its then-huge budget ($750,000 supplied by Metro chief Joseph Schenck) and failure to turn a significant profit, Keaton lost his independence as a filmmaker and was forced into a restrictive deal with MGM. In 1954, the film entered the public domain (in the USA) due to the claimant's failure to renew its copyright registration in the 28th year after publication.
The General has since been reevaluated, and is now often ranked among the greatest American films ever made.
Western & Atlantic Railroad train engineer Johnnie Gray (Keaton) is in Marietta, Georgia to see one of the two loves of his life, his fiancee Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack)—the other being his locomotive, The General—when the American Civil War breaks out. He hurries to be first in line to enlist in the Confederate Army, but is rejected because he is too valuable in his present job; unfortunately, Johnnie is not told this reason and is forcibly ejected from the office when he tries to enlist surreptitiously. On leaving, he runs into Annabelle's father and brother, who beckon to him to join them in line, but he sadly walks away, giving them the impression that he does not want to enlist. Annabelle coldly informs Johnnie that she will not speak to him again until he is in uniform.
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Wikipedia