#27: The General

The General (Keaton, 1927)

The most interesting thing about this film to me isn't the film itself but the difference in attitude toward military service between the 1920's and today. The film itself is well done but it's a little one dimensional and the humor was a bit too much like a Bugs Bunny cartoon (In the same way Hard Day's Night is a bit too much like Animaniacs.) The film takes place on the confederate side of the Civil War. Buster Keaton plays a small statured slightly affeminate train engineer. He tries to enlist in the army. They take a look at him and tell him to go home, because he's more value to the south as a train engineer than as a soldier. When he gets home there's a rumor he didn't even stand in line to join the army, and everybody calls him a coward. Back then, in the 1860s and the 1920s, fighting in the army was a necessary point of pride, and anybody who didn't was a coward without honor. This is heavy contrast to today's culture, where soldiers are seen as killers and families want their children to stay home where it's safe. I think this change is a mixed bag. On one hand we have less of the chest-pounding nationalism we used to have, but on the other hand we have a lot more apathy.

Getting back to the film, the main conflict of the film involves the Union soldiers stealing a train his girlfriend was on. He follows them alone in his own train, saves her, and comes back alone. The fun of the film is in how Keaton manages to keep up with and then get away from the union soldiers through pure engineering talent and ingenuity. But other than that, the story is kind of silly and there isn't anything really that interesting that goes on.

Rating: ** 1/2 / 5

78/101

Next: Sansho The Baliff, Godfather, Persona

I'm thinking of starting a different blog devoted only to new releases. There's a lot of good films coming out, a few in mainstream theaters and a lot in art houses. I know there are a lot of people who want to see great films that are coming out but don't want to see the boring pretentious films mixed in with them. Maybe I can help with that.