(Der General [de])
USA 1927
d: Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton
Cinema Club / mk2 (Region 2 uk)
sc: Clyde Bruckman, Al Boasberg, Buster Keaton, Charles Smith (based on the book "The Great Locomotive Chase" by William Pittenger)
c: J. Devereux Jennings, Bert Haines (b/w)
e: Buster Keaton, Sherman Kell
pd: Fred Gabourie
m: Joe Hisaishi (2004), Robert Israel (1995)
p: Joseph M. Schenck, Buster Keaton (Buster Keaton Productions for United Artists)
w: Marion Mack, Glen Cavender, Jim Farley, Frederick Vroom, Charles Henry Smith, Richard Allen, Joe Keaton, Mike Donlin, Tom Nawn, Buster Keaton
pr: 05 Feb 1927
rt: 78:08 min
dvd-rl: 25 Apr 2005
ar: 1.33:1 (4:3 Academy Ratio)
sd: Orchestral Music Score (2004) Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround • Orchestral Music Score (1995) Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
st: English intertitles; German, Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Russian, Arabic, Esperanto, Hungarian, Hebrew
supp: Restored by Lobster Films at Eclair Laboratory Paris in 2004 in High Definition
DISC 1
• The Film
• Introduction by film historian David Robinson (5:48 min)
• "Recording the Joe Hisaishi Score" featurette (7:37 min)
• "Restoration of The General" featurette (2:08 min)
DISC 2
• "The Railrodder" (1965) short film (24:50 min)
• "Buster Keaton Rides Again" documentary about 'The railroader' short (55:30 min)
• "Filming The General" featurette (1:19 min)
• "Tinted Version" excerpts (6:44 min)
• Introduction by Orson Welles (10:47 min)
• Buster Keaton Video Filmography (11:32)
• "Return of the General" silent featurette (10:52 min)
• Theatrical trailer for the Disney version of the story "The Great Locomotive Chase" (3:55 min)
• "The Iron Mule" (1925) short film (13:28 min)
• "Alice's Tin Pony" (1925) Disney short film (6:05 min)
24-pages Booklet with Liner Essay
Keaton's best, and arguably the greatest screen comedy ever made. Against a meticulously evoked Civil War background, Buster risks life, limb and love as he pursues his beloved railway engine, hijacked by Northern spies up to no good for the Southern cause. The result is everything one could wish for: witty, dramatic, visually stunning, full of subtle, delightful human insights, and constantly hilarious.
— GA, Time Out Film Guide
•••••
Lyric and comic and, by its very setting, tragic, "The General" ranks as one of the most authentic evocations of the Civil War on film, and one of the greatest comedies of all time. Keaton brought Matthew Brady–like images to brilliant life in a story based on a true incident of the war. Buster is an engineer who is rejected by the Confederate Army and thought a coward by his girlfriend. When a small band of Union soldiers penetrates far beyond Confederate lines to steal a locomotive, he sets off in hot pursuit. The title refers to the engine that figures prominently in one of the most harrowing and hilarious chase scenes ever filmed—in fact it takes up seven of the film's eight reels. Buster's relationship to the train is at least as touching as his love for Marian Mack, and both get rather rough treatment in this wartime setting. A little kiss from Buster makes it better.
— JB, PFA
