English summary

Fantastic, original jokes with spectacular stunts in Buster Keaton’s most famous film classic. During the MovieWeekend Festival, Movie W is screening The General as a film concert (Live by Kevin Toma). Another screening will follow at which you can hear the specially made sound track.

The silent film classic The General (1926) has been reissued in a wonderful digitally restored cinema version, and given a brand new sound track. This film by and starring the legendary film comic Buster Keaton (the great stone face) is regarded as one of the best film comedies ever made. Slapstick and absurdism are brilliantly combined.

The story was inspired by the true-life Great Locomotive Chase, an event during the American Civil War. With his locomotive named ‘The General’, train driver Johnnie Gray (Buster Keaton) pursues hostile Southern troops after his girlfriend has been abducted by them in a stolen train. During the spectacular chase, Keaton pulls off all kinds of stunts. He resorts to firing a canon, gets caught in the locomotive’s  coupling rods and pulls out all the stops to feed the boiler and keep the train going.

The General may rightly be called a masterpiece, with its fantastic, original jokes, its rapid pace and the many superior stunts that Keaton himself performs.