Buster Keaton On Blu-ray: THE GENERAL Review

Editor, U.S. ; Dallas, Texas (@HatefulJosh)
Buster Keaton On Blu-ray: THE GENERAL Review
Kino Lorber has taken on the awesome responsibility of transferring all of Buster Keaton's surviving work to Blu-ray in the next year or so.  In honor of this great and noble undertaking, we'll be taking a look at their existing releases in the run up to their late November release of Keaton's Seven Chances.  In the past, we've reviewed both their double feature of Sherlock, Jr./Three Ages and their superlative edition of Our Hospitality, today's review takes on Kino's first Buster Keaton Blu-ray and one of the great American films, The General.
Consistently ranked among the greatest films ever made, Buster Keaton's THE GENERAL is so brilliantly conceived and executed that it continues to inspire awe and laughter with every viewing. This Kino Ultimate Disc Edition was mastered in HD from a 35mm archive print struck from the original camera negative.

Rejected by the Confederate army and taken for a coward by his beloved Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack), young Johnny Gray (Keaton) is given a chance to redeem himself when Yankee spies steal his cherished locomotive. Johnny wages a one-man war against hijackers, an errant cannon and the unpredictable hand of fate while roaring along the iron rails. "Every shot has the authenticity and the unassuming correct composition of a Mathew Brady Civil War photograph," wrote film historian David Robinson, "No one - not even Griffith or Huston and certainly not Fleming (Gone With the Wind) - caught the visual aspect of the Civil War as Keaton did."
Buster Keaton had a life long fascination with trains, and they found a loving home on screen with him on more than one occasion.  However, there is no greater film about trains than this one, The General.  It is the real life story of a great Civil War act of espionage by the Union soldiers who stole the titular engine in 1862 in an attempt to disrupt the Confederacy's supply lines and end the war as soon as possible. The Blues' managed to get the train, but they weren't able to complete their plan, thanks to the interference of a civilian and a very couple of very determined train folks who didn't take kindly to thieves or Union soldiers.

The story doesn't exactly lend itself out to comedic interpretation, but leave it to Keaton to take this chapter in history and turn it into one of the funniest films ever made. The General is not only a comedy, it is also an amazing action film, a romance, and a historical drama.  Most filmmakers attempting to shove all of those ingredients into the same pot would come out with something half-baked, but Keaton's take is picture perfect.  The film features some of his most famous stunt work, and for a man known for his physical gags, that is really saying something. Not only does Keaton do all of his own stunts, he does them on a moving train, and there are times when that thing is really going, it's still impressive even today!

Among the many memorable gags is the bridge collapse.  The sequence which features the Texas, the rival train, crashing into the Rock River was the most expensive single shot in Hollywood history up until that point.  In 1926 a $42,000 shot was nothing to sneeze at, but ultimately it paid off, not only for the film, but for the town of Cottage Grove where the film was shot. After shooting completed, the stunt train was left in the river and became something of a tourist attraction in Cottage Grove, in fact, the town still enjoys notoriety for its appearance in The General, and rightfully so.  Many of the shooting locations are still visible eighty-five years later, and there aren't many small towns about which you could say that!

One interesting facet of this film is the fact that it is a work in which the Confederacy is the side with which the audience is expected to feel sympathy.  This is a tact that I don't think would really work these days, with people fearing the microscope of political correctness.  However, in 1926, the Civil War wasn't such ancient history, and there were still some veterans of "The War Between The States" around, who surely were a political force in some fashion. Confederate pride wasn't something to be ashamed of, yet.  That has all changed, and the American film-going public doesn't like its sensibilities being challenged like that anymore. It is really fantastic that Keaton took on the story, because if it had waited anther couple of decades, it probably wouldn't have been told at all!

While The General isn't my favorite Buster Keaton film, and I haven't seen them all yet, it certainly is among the very best.  The film has been recognized by the AFI and many of the film world's biggest names as a masterpiece, and rightfully so.  Kino have treated the film with great respect, and this is a fantastic package to get.

The Disc:

At the time of its release, there weren't very many silents on Blu-ray, and this looked better than almost all of them.  In the intervening two years, the stakes have been raised, and I think the current film to beat is Masters of Cinema's Coeur Fidele, though I may get some argument on that.  That being said, this transfer is head and shoulders above Kino's DVD Ultimate Edition, and better than most of their Keaton output to this day. It looks stellar.  The film is sharp and detailed, looks fantastic in motion, and is color tinted along with the original instructions.  The sound is no less impressive as Kino have provided three different audio soundtracks, including one in DTS-HD 5.1, which roundly trounces the Dolby 2.0 choices on the disc.

There are several standout extras on The General that add up to around an hour of bonus material.  There is a history lesson on the actual General engine, which is in a museum in Kennesaw, GA. The historian on staff gives us the real story behind Keaton's adaptation, and gives a little bit of history regarding the train boom and the history of trains in the US.  There is a brief segment touring some of the remaining shooting locations of The General in Cottage Grove, OR.  It is interesting to see how well this town has retained its image over the years.  Some home video footage of the making of The General punctuates these two features.  There is also a montage titled The Buster Express, which is a compilation of train gags from Keaton's career that is briskly paced and very amusing, and finally a pair of filmed introductions for The General as it aired on TV in the '60s with Gloria Swanson and the '70s with Orson Welles.  Welles' introduction is the more interesting of the two, as he uses his time to explore Keaton's career in a fun way, and you can tell just how much he enjoys Keaton and his work.

Kino Lorber's Blu-ray presentation of The General is outstanding and gets me excited to continue this project with Keaton and Kino.  Definitely recommended!  Look out next for Steamboat Bill, Jr!
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