The General (The Ultimate Two-Disc Edition)

It was with some trepidation and annoyance that I found myself plunking down more hard-earned money for my fourth copy of Buster Keaton's immortal silent comedy,"The General." I am pleased to report that the investment was a worthy one.The public domain versions of this film are undeserving of comment and should be avoided at all costs. I made the misfortune mistake of buying one of these hack jobs first and was rewarded with a poor transfer with completely inappropriate music. I then purchased the double feature of "The General" and "Steamboat Bill, Jr." offered by Image. The picture quality was greatly improved in regards to clarity and contrast. My personal complaint regarding the Image version is the musical accompaniment provided by the Alloy Orchestra. Clanky and mechanical, their score is more a cacophany than a symphony and works against, rather than complements, much of the action in the film. Next, I procured Kino's original version of "The General", which, to my disappointment, was softer and less sharp than the one offered by Image. It does feature a more pleasing score by Robert Israel. This brings me to Kino's updated and restored version, and I can affirm that my quest for the best version of this film has come to an end.Why go into such nauseating detail regarding the purchasing process? For one, it demonstrates how much I appreciate this film and how important it is to obtain it in its preeminent form. I also hope it will convince those mulling over the different available versions of this film that the Ultimate 2-Disc Edition is the version to buy.Other reviewers have mentioned the techniques used to restore the film, and it is indeed the most lustrous version I have seen. The nighttime sequences are suffused with a rich dark blue, and the sepia tone used give this version the appearance of a Matthew Brady daguerrotype more than ever before.Special mention should be made of the three musical scores. Robert Israel's orginal score has been retained, and a fine organ score by Lee Erwin is also an option. But for my money, the film is best enjoyed with Carl Davis' 1987 score for Thames Television. Those familiar with his scores for "Ben-Hur", "The Crowd", "The Big Parade", and many others know how he can elevate the emotion of a silent film. He does the same here, interweaving distinctly Amercian music that works perfectly.As for the film itself, it is not mere hyperbole to state that it is one of the undisputed masterworks of American cinema and not just the silent period. It was derided by the critics of its age as not being funny. To be honest, it's not funny in a conventional sense, rather it is sublime. Some have criticized Keaton's film as too mechanical, but there is always an insistent humanity fighting against the mighty contraptions Keaton is laboring to free both himself and the woman he loves from."The General" is in many ways a cinematic obstacle course. The first half finds Johnnie Gray being deprived of his two loves: Annabelle and his locomotive. He has to negotiate all manner of hardships in order to be reunited with both of them. The second half has him fleeing for home and employing the same sorts of means to discouarage his pursuers that were once used against him.In terms of narrarive, chronology, and geometry, "The General" is a mirror image. It is also a film that must be watched closely and patiently in order to be fully appreciated. Beause of this, it merits repeat viewings and provides new insights each time. It is a film for the ages that has at last received the proper format to be fully enjoyed and appreciated.

First off, the movie is fantastic. Definitely watch it. Just not here.Laughably, the music is from another Keaton flick, namely "The Three Ages." Robert Israel's score for that works perfectly for TTA, but having the music from Buster playing dice in an alley in Ancient Rome playing under a poignant scene between Jimmy and his girlfriend is pretty weird, and having the jaunty music of Buster going for a ride in his beat up jalopy playing under a serious scene in which generals are discussing the next move in a war really doesn't work.Furthermore, the colorization is clearly done by a computer—it's okay, better than most AI colorization I've seen—but still unnecessary and distracting.The sound effects are a neat addition but get to be far too much. I know that even back in the day, really upscale Wurlitzer organs would be able to produce, beyond the music, such noises (like gun shots and trains and horses' hooves), and these here are admittedly pretty well-done: they synch up very well, from little details, like the man behind the counter writing with his pen. Hats off, because there was clearly a lot of attention to detail. However, these are too numerous and get distracting, like the colorization, as every little thing is added, and quite loudly (that aforementioned pen should not be as loud as the train whistles and horses).So ultimately, definitely watch this tour-de-force, but find a copy with music that was made to actually go with the film, not one that was laughably ripped off another completely different type of movie.

This review is specific to the of Buster Keaton's the General produced by Allied Artists version, the one found in the Buster Keaton Collection by St Clair vision, and those by Kino. I won't bother to discuss the story, others do an incredibly good job of that, this review is limited to technical issues.Finding a full length copy of the General can be a serious problem for a silent film aficionado. I have long regarded this as the best silent movie and wanted a perfect copy of the original full length film at 105 minutes long, unfortunately every quality copy I could find is an abridged 75 - 78 minutes long. Some people have attempted to explain the difference in speed as the cameraman's decision to run the reels faster or slower, but quite frankly a speed differential of 40% due the enthusiasm of the cameraman was a little hard to believe. I later did a side by side comparison and found over 200 differences where I could find cuts in footage. The movie seems to have either been cut differently for American and International audiences or the surviving 35mm version was abridged for televised broadcast when they first started playing silent movies on the tube. I have been able to discover that the 105min version was preserved on a 16mm reel found in either Australia or New Zealand, this 98 minute Allied Artists version comes from a Spanish 16mm reel; and the 75 minute versions by Kino and others come from the remaining 35mm reels found in the States. It would be nice to know what theater audiences originally saw in the U.S. but information from the era is sketchy and best guess is that they watched the short version. I have found writings which claim that American audiences of the 1920's preferred movies to be around 70 minutes long while International audiences preferred longer films. One thing which influences the review, I have a personal preference for original organ scores because the original artists tended to understand the importance of music to a movie and gave it a lot of thought, music is key to setting the mood and tone of any silent movie.The Allied Artists version of the General rated one star because there is no sound track. Someone at Allied needed to pay more attention to production details. I could live with the movie originating from a 16mm pressing since the full version of the movie is not available in a high quality print, considering the origins it is clean. When it comes to sound; however, the case clearly states "dolby stereo", which is a near universal format and there is no sound track whatsoever. I ran some rather sophisticated anaylsis on the disc to make sure I didn't have an equipment compatibility issue - and it just isn't there. This is an unforgivable lapse, and more than a little deceptive. Others on the net have made this observation as well so I don't believe the problem is limited to my disc. Face it, Dolby Stereo silence is not a big draw when purchasing a silent movie.The Buster Keaton Collection by St Clair Vision contains a lesser version of the full 105 minute movie and would also rate one star but for different reason. They appeared to have a random classical music soundtrack. How they thought Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance" (most know it as graduation music) could be be applied to an American war movie is beyond me. Its use is sloppy and indicates a lack of thought. The music is jarring and ruins this most worthy of films. Again you wind up watching the film truly "Silent".So I am still left watching the short but visually and symphonically perfect Kino pressings. Most of the Kino Releases are perfect and this one is no different. Kino provides multiple musical scores depending on ones taste and they offer the best visuals available. I gave them four stars because I wish they would produce a full length version of the General, but otherwise there is little I can say that would result in a better product.Lastly, the film is based on a book written around 1898 by Lieut. William Pittenger "Daring and Suffering: A History of the Great Railway Adventure (aka The Great Locomotive Chase)" a fictionalized account of the Andrews Raiders attempted sabotage of the Confederate Railway System. Historically this raid was itself a fascinating story. I have never seen a copy of the book.

Extraordinaire pour 1927 un sans paroles mais déjà un exelent ceniario"a ne pas manquer Buster Keaton un précurseur du cinema

excelente clasico por excelencia se acomoda al formato, si es verdad me esperaba la hubieran limpiado un pokito mas pero bueno esta bastante bien, por supuesto es 1080.

Been one of my favourite film , first saw it about 60 years ago .

Lauded by film critics over the years as the greatest of Buster Keaton's films, if not the greatest comedy ever made, this film is one that I have wanted to see for a while. It had a heck of a reputation to live up to, and did not disappoint!It tells the tale of a railroad engineer in the South during the American civil war, whose beloved train `The General' and girl are stolen by Northern spies who are planning to cut off the South's supply lines before the North makes a big attack. Johnny Grey first pursues his two loves into the depths of enemy territory, and then in turn is pursued back to his homeland, giving us a stone cold classic chase comedy.As well as allowing Keaton's love of trains full reign as he demonstrates (and probably invents) all the classic railroad and chase visual gags, this film stands out for other reasons. Based on a true story (no, really!), the attention to detail in recreating the period is superb. Also, much like John Ford's work in monument valley a few years later, the beautiful landscape in which Keaton was filming is as much a part of the story as the actors. The film manages to be the personal story of one man, but also has a grand epic quality to it. Finally there are the stunts. No-one was better than Keaton, and he was never better than in this film.Sadly, this was much misunderstood upon its release in 1926, mainly because it makes the Confederates the heroes of the story, a viewpoint that did not find favour in the America of the time. Also, it was unusual for this style of comedy in that people do get hurt, and in the final battle scene are seen to die on screen. The scenes of troops coming through the woods in the early morning mist was probably quite disturbing to a nation for whom the first world wa was still a fresh memory. Subsequently it was a commercial failure that ended Keaton's creative independence. Luckily it has been reassessed and is now recognised as a classic.This two disc special edition is the bees knees. I believe it might even have elicited a smile from the great Stoneface himself to see the film treated in such a fashion. The film itself is presented in a beautifully restored print, looking fresh and sharp, allowing Keaton's amasing stunt work and the amazing scenery to be seen in detail. The new score from Joe Hisaishi is a joy, and really compliments the film. There are various documentaries regarding the filming, restoration andrescoring of the film. There is also Keaton's last film, the railroader, almost a follow up to the General. This a really nice touch to the set.Classic film with a superb presentation. Five stars no hesitation.

1926 entstand Buster Keatons bekanntester Film "Der General" und damit meint der Mann, der niemals lachte seine geliebte Lokomotive "The General". Genauso wie sein Lok liebt er aber auch seine zukünftige Braut Annabella Lee (Marion Mack). Doch im Laufe der Handlung muss er wohl oder übel beide für sich zurückerobern.Etwa ein Fünftel des fertigen Stummfilms wurde mit fahrenden Kameras gedreht. Zur damaligen Zeit total innovativ: Entweder war die Kamera auf der gefilmten Lokomotive befestigt oder aber sie wurde auf Schienen parallel zur fahrenden Lok entlangbewegt. Die Chefkameramänner waren Bert Haines und J. Devereux Jennings.Die Geschichte spielt zur Zeit des amerikanischen Sezessionskriegs und bezieht sich dabe auf den tatsächlich stattgefunden Andrews Überfall im Jahr 1862 - Spione aus den Nordstaaten versuchten eine Lokomotive der Südstaaten zu stehlen. Noch heute gehört "Der General" zu den ganz großen Werken der Stummfilmära. Leider war der Film an der Kasse eher ein Mißerfolg, was dazu führte, dass Keaton seine künstlerische Unabhängigkeit verlor.Noch ist der Krieg für Lokomotivführer Johnny Gray (Buster Keaton) nicht präsent. Er besucht seine Braut Annabella Lee. Deren Vater (Charles Henry Smith) und auch der Bruder (Frank Barnes) kommen nach Hause und verkünden die frohe Botschaft, dass der Süden Soldaten braucht. Natürlich schreiben sich die beiden sofort ein und sind sich sicher, dass Johnny ihnen ins Rekrutierungsbüro folgt. Tut er auch, doch er wird nicht angenommen. Dem Militär ist Johnnys Metier des Lokführers so wichtig, dass sie ihn lieber dort sehen wollen als im Feld der Ehre. Natürlich kränkt dies die Braut - sie liebt nun mal Männer in Uniform und sieht in ihrem Johnny pötzlich einen Feigling. Die Rehablilitaton lässt natürlich nicht ganz so lange auf sich warten. Ein paar Monate später entführt ein gegnerischer Kommandotrupp den Zug und zu allem Unglück wird Annabelle Lee noch als Geisel gefangen genommen. Einsam und ohne zu zögern nimmt Johnny natürlich die Verfolgung auf. Zuerst zu Fuß, dann mit einer anderen Lokomotive. Er vereitelt auch den Plan der Nordstaaten, die das Kommunikations- und Bahnsystem der Konföderierten lahmlegen wollen. Es gelingt ihm natürlich Annabelle zu befreien -und mit dem geliebten "General" treten beide die Flucht in die Heimat an. Verfolgt von den Feinden. Am Ende steht eine Beförderung zum Leutnant. Damit bekommt die Braut den Mann mit Uniform und der Mann hat die Braut erfolgreich zurückerobert...Mit einer hervorragenden Dramaturgie und einem irren Tempo hat Keaton seinen Film in Szene gesetzt. Die ca. 78 Minuten Laufzeit vergehen wie im Flug und mit ruhiger Würde agiert der Hauptdarsteller und Filmemacher als kleiner Mann, der nichts erschüttern kann und der mit perfektem Timing sein Ziel verfolgt. Ein lange Zugfahrt, die zugepflastert ist mit einer reichen Ansammlung an Gags, die einfach aus der Situation heraus geschehen.