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THE GENERAL

1926

Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman

The General

SYNOPSIS

Johnnie Gray, a rejected Confederate engineer, pursues Union spies who stole his beloved locomotive and his fiancée. Buster Keaton performs death-defying stunts on a moving train, blending precise physical comedy with epic scope. Though a failure upon release, it is now revered as the silent era’s greatest action-comedy. Keaton's stoic performance and the film's perfect visual geometry create a timeless masterpiece of motion, danger, and pure cinematic wit.

CRITIQUE

Buster Keaton’s The General is often cited as the greatest comedy ever made. Unlike the chaotic slapstick of his peers, Keaton prioritized historical realism and visual geometry, performing death-defying stunts on a moving locomotive. The film is a marvel of engineering and timing, culminating in the most expensive shot of the silent era: a real train crashing into a river. A commercial flop in its time, it is now revered for its perfect structure and stoic heroism. It elevated the comedy genre into high art, blending epic scale with intimate, deadpan wit.

SCREENING AVAILABILITY

  • Theatrical screenings

  • Non-theatrical screenings

  • Festivals and cinematheques

  • Educational screenings

  • Television broadcasting

  • Digital platforms and streaming

  • Promotional and editorial use

  • Licensing of graphic and visual materials

AVAILABLE FORMATS

  • DCP

  • DCP with subtitles

  • Apple ProRes

  • MP4 Screening File

  • MP4 Rehearsal Copy for Musicians (silent films)

  • Blu-ray

  • High-resolution archival masters

PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS

  • Posters

  • Press stills

  • Promotional assets

  • Screening support materials

AVAILABLE SUBTITLES

  • English

  • Spanish

  • French

  • Portuguese

  • Italian

  • German

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