The General (1926)

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Silent-screen star Buster Keaton plays a train engineer who gets rejected by the Confederate army because his job is too important to leave vacant. But he gets his chance to serve the South when Union soldiers steal his beloved locomotive, ‘The General,’ with his girlfriend (Marion Mack) onboard. The General is non-stop comedy and excitement as Keaton single-handedly pursues the kidnappers, rescues his train and his girlfriend, and then races back to warn the Confederacy of a pending attack.

With its contemporary pacing, polished camerawork, and incredible stunt work, The General is one of the most enduring silent films (if not the most enduring). A large portion of the film is committed to two railroad chase sequences in which one side constantly tries to thwart the other by throwing obstacles on the tracks, firing canon balls, starting fires, and burning bridges. It’s as exciting as silent cinema gets.

But the film doesn’t rely on action alone. Keaton, like his fellow mute comic Charlie Chaplin, exudes charisma. His acting is more subtle than Chaplin’s, without any telegraphing or mugging, which one could argue makes his performances more timeless. The physical comedy is top-notch, especially when Keaton is clinging to the cow-catcher front of the locomotive, trying to clear huge pylons of wood from his path. But my favorite character moment comes in the middle of the return chase home. Keaton asks his girlfriend to throw wood on the fire, but she throws in only sticks and splinters. Eventually he catches her sweeping the floor with a broom. He puts his hands around her neck and shakes her. Then stops and pecks her on the lips, speaking for everyone whose ever wanted to strangle a loved one.

While the final act featuring the big showdown between Union and Confederate forces is exciting, I’m not sure the film even needs it. But it does feature a famous set-piece moment, when the opposing army’s train crumbles under the burning bridge and falls into the river. When you consider that The General was shot entirely in-camera, with no visual effects, models or miniatures, it’s all the more impressive.