Directors: Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman
Producers: Buster Keaton and Joseph Schenck
Writers: Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman, Al Boasberg, Charles Henry Smith, and Paul Girard Smith
Cinematographers: Bert Haines and Devereaux Jennings
Starring: Buster Keaton (Johnnie Gray), Marion Mack (Annabelle Lee), Glen Cavender (Captain Anderson), Jim Farley (General Thatcher)
The silent era of comedy was spearheaded by three legendary greats that dominated the box office and the affection of critics. Of the three, Buster Keaton is probably the least remembered but may well have been the most brilliant as both a comedian and filmmaker. Keaton’s brand of comedy often involved increasingly elaborate stunts that often put him at great risk and nearly cost him his life on more than one occasion. More than any other comedian, Keaton’s comedy is action based and frequently rises to profound levels of absurdity, which makes his signature deadpan expression all the more hilarious. We shouldn’t discount just how funny he could be in little jokes as well, filling in the gaps between the big set-piece moments are a wealth of smaller gags that are equally as wonderful. Obviously, prior to the sound era comedians had to rely almost entirely on visual comedy, creating a golden age of sight gags and slapstick upon which almost all physical comedy today is based. No one was better at this brand of comedy, nor ultimately more influential than Keaton, even if he didn’t enjoy the longevity of his contemporaries.
As talented and inventive as Keaton was comedically, what makes him stand out from the masses of other talented comedians of his era is that he was equally as brilliant as a filmmaker, taking a hands-on approach to his films and stamping them with his own unique style. By the time he made The General in 1925, Keaton had starred in, written, directed, produced, and edited dozens of films, from shorts to full-length features and therefore had a pretty good idea of what he wanted to do. However, even with many excellent films under his belt, there was nothing quite like the visual artistry that would be on display in his most famous film. It is apparent early on in the film that there is an attention to detail at work in The General quite unlike any other film, comedy or not, that had been made up to this point. Simply put, The General looks like it was filmed during the Civil War and every frame is reminiscent of a picture you’d see in Ken Burns’ documentary The Civil War. From sets to props and costumes, many of them authentic, everything appears as it would have in 1862 and the cinematography mimics the color and composition of a Civil War photograph.
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| An example of the detailed Civil War aesthetic in The General. |
The cinematography in The General is incredible, especially in the plentiful outdoor scenes, shot in and around Cotton Grove, Oregon, and lit by natural light. Cameras at that time were a step behind what would be available in just a few years, let alone what is used today, however even today there aren’t films that look as good as The General does.
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| Unusually for a comedy, The General is beautifully photographed. |
Also remarkable about the film is the fact that everything was shot exactly how is appears to be on camera, there are no miniatures or models used; trains and bridges were recreated just as they would have been and fully worked; so even in spectacular moments what you are seeing is real.
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| The General features real trains and bridges, made for the film. |
The General makes use of, and perfects, some common comedic formulas while also creating new and fascinating ones along the way. Early on in the film, there are a number of purely visual gags, such as the children and Annabelle all following Johnnie at exactly the same distance and pace, or the picture of Johnnie and his train. We also see a moment of vaudevillian slapstick as Johnnie takes a pratfall off the front porch.
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| Keaton uses a number of visual gags in The General... |
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| ...including referencing his own screen persona. |
These are simple, standard gags but Keaton makes them all the funnier with his typical stoicism. After the opening few minutes, The General unfolds into an almost movie-long chase scene, first it is Johnnie chasing after “the General,” then being chased after re-gaining his beloved engine and rescuing Annabelle. Along the way, several comedic formulas repeat themselves in entertaining ways. First is an escalating gag, in which the same action is attempted repeatedly with a different and increasingly more humorous result along the way. For example, when Johnnie attaches a cannon to the back of his train and tries to fire it, his attempts go from failure, to complete disaster, and finally to the serendipitous success that always seems to find our comedic heroes in the end. Later, we see another, smaller version of this joke when Annabelle is caught in a beartrap and Johnnie’s attempts to help her out only entraps himself. Through comedy, you can find these types of escalating gags; a well-known example being when Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance attempt to keep up with the flow of chocolate on the conveyor belt in a famous episode of I Love Lucy.
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| Johnnie's attempts to use the cannon go from bad to worse... |
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| ...at first, his shot doesn't have enough power... |
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| ...but eventually, the cannon breaks loose... |
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| ...and points right at Johnnie... |
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| ...who gets his foot caught on a chain, stuck in the line of fire until... |
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| ...blind good fortune intervenes at the last moment and the cannon not only misses but hits the enemy train. |
Another common film formula seen in The General that can be found in not just comedy but all film is that of informational asymmetry. This is a crucial aspect of filmmaking and one that can totally change how a scene is played. There are two types of informational asymmetry: that of the characters and that of the audience. Regarding characters, rarely are characters in a movie all knowing and almost all have significant gaps in knowledge that can create either suspense or humor depending on the situation. More importantly is what the audience knows or doesn’t know and therefore what reactions they might have to a seen. In the scene in which Johnnie is hiding under the table and the Union brass are sitting around discussing their plans, Johnnie and the audience know the pickle he is in, and are therefore concerned he might be exposed, but those sitting around the table are completely unaware of his presence which creates the tension, as their knowledge could change at any moment, such as when one of the men’s cigars burns a hole in the tablecloth. However, instead of revealing Johnnie to the men it is instead used in the reverse of expectations to reveal the presence of Annabelle to Johnnie.
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| The Union officers are completely oblivious to the fact that... |
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| ...Johnnie is hiding under their table. |
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| A moment of potential tension turns to comedy as the cigar burns Johnnie... |
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| ...and serves a double purpose of creating an opportunity for Johnnie... |
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| ...to see Annabelle has been captured, in an early use of point of view. |
Later on in the film, informational asymmetry is used to a more humorous effect: after Johnnie hides Annabelle in a sack and loads her on the train, two men, who are completely unaware that she is hiding in the bag, toss a heavy crate on top of her. Only Johnnie and the audience know the crate landed on Annabelle and so only they react to it.
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| Johnnie places Annabelle gently in the train car... |
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| ...but unknowing workers through a heavy box on top of her... |
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| ...which only has meaning to Johnnie, Annabelle, and the audience. |
Later on we are treated to a joke for only the audience: as Annabelle is watching the track ahead and Johnnie is gathering more wood for the engine, the unconscious Union officer that Johnnie knocked out and left on the train begins to wake up, posing a potential threat that only the audience, not the characters, are aware of. The potential suspenseful moment is hilariously cut short when the officer is accidentally knocked out again by a piece of wood thrown by Johnnie, who never realizes that he saved the day. Watch pretty much any movie closely and ask yourself who knows what, be it character or audience, and you’ll start to see some of the architecture behind the film revealed.
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| Annabelle and Johnnie are completely unaware that the Union officer poses a threat to them... |
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| ...and they are never the wiser as a stray piece of wood knocks him out. Only the audience is aware of the gag. |
These pieces of conventional humor formula are what fills in the gaps between the parts of the film that could only have been made by Keaton. Mainly this is the continuously escalating train chases in which Johnnie frequently faces more and more absurd obstacles and situations (some of his own doing) but reacts only with a stone-faced look of determination that makes everything happening just that much funnier. Keaton and his deadpan face of resilience is the iron resolve we all aspire to, the ability to look absurdity and long odds in the face and overcome them with sheer willpower and a heaping helping of luck.
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| No matter how precarious the situation... |
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| ...Keaton's stoic expression never changes. |
There are a few other elements of the film that are noteworthy. We’ve already discussed vaguely the use of practical effects but the spectacular moment of the train crashing through the burning bridge shouldn’t go without mentioning. This is the kind of thing that could be done during the crazy era of silent film but would eventually be replaced by miniatures in the next few decades. Only later on in expensive epic films such as The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) would practical effects like this be attempted again.
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| The General utilizes spectacular practical effects. |
Also, The General and several other of the great comedy films of the silent era were more progressive in their depiction of women. Annabelle starts out as a typical damsel in distress that needs to be rescued by Johnnie but eventually becomes an active participant, providing valuable contributions to the getaway.
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| "Damsel in distress" Annabelle aides her own rescue by resourcefully tying two trees together... |
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| ...which slows down the pursuing train. |
Comedies often end with a joke and The General is no different, with Keaton opting for a slightly romantic but mostly visually humorous final gag that represents Keaton’s style of humor best. In the same way, Keaton’s two main comedic compatriots likewise would end their films in their own unique style.
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| The General ends with a visual joke, as Johnnie blindly salutes passing soldiers while kissing Annabelle. |
The General, though now justly regarded as one of greatest films ever made, was not well received critically and was a failure at the box office. Many critics disliked the setting and found it distasteful to make a comedy about war. Even in the more libertine twenties, critics and audiences weren’t ready for even the lightest of black comedy, a trend that would continue for decades. However, The General was well regarded by many filmmakers, not just comedians, and it and Keaton’s influence is clear in many genres of film. After the coming of sound, Keaton struggled to find his way both artistically and financially but the strength of his silent comedies are still affecting how movies are made today.
See Also
Pretty much every Keaton silent comedy is worth your time but two full-length features, Sherlock Jr. (1924) and Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928) stand out as masterpieces nearly, but not quite, on par with The General.
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