Tags
Language
Tags
March 2024
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
25 26 27 28 29 1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31 1 2 3 4 5 6

The General (1926) + Extras

Posted By: Helladot
720p (HD) / BDRip IMDb
The General (1926) + Extras

The General (1926) + Extras
BDRip 720p | MKV | 1280 x 720 | x264 @ 2048 Kbps | 1h 18mn | 1,75 Gb + 495 Mb
4 Different Scores AC3 5.1/2.0 @ 448/224 Kbps with English intertitles
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy | Directors: Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton

Johnnie loves his train ("The General") and Annabelle Lee. When the Civil War begins he is turned down for service because he's more valuable as an engineer. Annabelle thinks it's because he's a coward. Union spies capture The General with Annabelle on board. Johnnie must rescue both his loves.

IMDB - Top Rated Movies #182

Probably Buster Keaton's best film, and oddly enough, it's not even a straightforward comedy – it's actually an action film, with clever doses of romance and comedy tossed in for good measure. `The General', which is set during the Civil War, is about a train engineer named Johnny Gray (Buster Keaton, of course) who tries to enlist in the Confederate Army . . . and is turned down because the army feels he'd be much more valuable for the war effort as an engineer instead of a soldier. However, through a series of misunderstandings, both Johnny's family and his girl think he's a coward, and they refuse to speak to him until he becomes a soldier. Months pass, and Johnny, sad and alone, is piloting his train – the General – when it is stolen from him by the North. Johnny's efforts to recover the General – and to win back his girl's love – become an unbelievably funny and action-packed series of events, as Johnny tries to go from being a sad-sack buffoon to being a hero.

If you haven't watched many silent films, they demand a greater amount of attention than `normal' film – there are no audio cues; and volumes can be spoken with a simple facial expression. Buster Keaton is amazingly expressive, as he's fully capable of going from wildly happy to downtrodden and sad in the blink of an eye. While funny, Keaton is much more than just a clownish figure – he manages to evoke a lot of sympathy as well, and he genuinely becomes what can only be described as an action hero as well. His timing, whether for a joke or for a tender moment, is absolutely impeccable.

What's also great about `The General' is the sheer amount of stunts and physical humor – a movie like this couldn't be made today. No amount of insurance would cover it. Keaton does all his own stunts, and manages to perform a number of feats that are simultaneously hilarious and dangerous – he chases down `The General' with a bike, he sits on a moving cattlecatcher, knocking away railroad ties with a tie of his own. All these stunts are fantastic, but it's scary to think that any one of these probably could've killed Keaton if something even went slightly wrong.

`The General' is a lot more than slapstick. Personally, I think it's one of the first films to push the envelope of movies – it goes for action, romance, and humor, and it pulls all of those elements together into a terrific movie. If you've never seen Buster Keaton – or, for that matter, a silent film – go find this one and watch it. It's a classic. A+
(Enlargeable)
The General (1926) + Extras
The General (1926) + Extras

Audiotracks:
1-2. 5.1/2.0 score conducted by Carl Davis, orchestrated by Nicholas Raine, and performed by the Thames Silents Orchestra for a BBC presentation of The General in 1987.
3. Composer Robert Israel's score is derived from traditional silent movie tunes, and prominently features piano and strings.
4. Lee Irwin's organ score, which was recorded in Carnegie Hall and commissioned during the 1970s to accompany theatrical reissues of The General.

Extras:
- Intro by Orson Welles (12:21)
- Video Tour of The General (18:05)