Movie Review: The General (1926) directed by Clyde Bruckman.
The train pulls into Marietta, Georgia in 1861. The engine known as “The General” is driven by engineer Johnnie Gray (Buster Keaton). He loves his engine, but Johnnie also loves local girl Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack). The young sweethearts are just about to settle into some chaste courtship when it’s announced that war has started with the Union. Annabelle’s father and brother rush off to enlist in the army, and Johnnie not only follows, but uses a shortcut to be first in line at the recruiting office.
Johnnie’s enlistment is turned down because he has a vital civilian job as a railway engineer, but the clerk doesn’t actually tell him that. As a result, he has no explanation for the Lee family, who decide he’s a coward who refused to enlist. Annabelle cuts off relations until Johnnie overcomes his yellow belly.
A year later, Captain Anderson, a Union spy, and ten picked men infiltrate the South and steal the General, planning to destroy the rail bridges between Marietta and Chattanooga, Tennessee so that the Confederate forces will lose their supply lines. As it happens, Annabelle is in the baggage car when this happens, so she is dragged along with as much delicacy as the Union men can spare. Johnnie (who’s unaware that Annabelle is involved) starts chasing the stolen locomotive.
This 1926 silent film is less a straight-up comedy, and more of a drama that has comedic protagonists. Much of it is extended chase scenes as first Johnnie chases the stolen General, then the Union soldiers chase the General when Johnnie steals it back. The climax of the film is a pitched battle between Union and Confederate forces across the Rock River. (Actually a river in Oregon as the movie was filmed there.)
Buster Keaton performs some spectacular stunts that are even more dangerous than they look, in addition to some regular physical comedy. The steam engine wreck is especially impressive because that was an actual bridge and train engine they’re actually wrecking, making it the most expensive movie filmed to that date. Annabelle Lee turns out to be much sturdier than her poetic namesake, taking quite a beating once Johnnie starts her rescue. She’s not the best help, being new to running a steam engine, but Annabelle’s a game woman.
The movie avoids the fact that Johnnie is fighting for slavery (which is never mentioned, though a couple of black luggage haulers appear in an early scene.) Since the plot was loosely based on a real incident, Buster Keaton felt it would be pushing things too far to make the hero a Union man. Parents of younger viewers might want to talk about what actually happened during the Civil War. There’s also a scene where Johnnie loses his temper for a second and tries to throttle Annabelle.
This is one of the last great silents and well worth a watch for Buster Keaton.
