The General

The Train Wreck

The General received the second highest feedback score of the season – 90%. Not altogether surprising as it has been voted one of the best silent comedies ever made. There's loads of background information on Buster Keaton and The General available on line. See the links at the end of this entry.

The film was based on real events, people and places in the American civil war. For more background see this wikipedia entry - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Great_Locomotive_Chase

The Wikipedia entry for The General says that the train wreck scene was filmed in the conifer forest around the town of Cottage Grove, Oregon, using 500 extras from the Oregon National Guard. They all dressed up in Union uniforms and were filmed going left-to-right before changing into Confederate uniforms and being filmed going right-to-left. The production company left the wreckage in the river bed after the scene was filmed. The wrecked locomotive became a minor tourist attraction for nearly twenty years. The metal of the train was salvaged for scrap during World War II. It's no surprise, then that the film cost $750,000!

The most popular poster in the competition was number 20. Joint second were posters 5 and 10, and  fourth was poster number 2.

First – Number 20

Joint second – No 5

Joint second – No 10

Fourth – Number 2

The winner of the grand prize will be announced at the next screening but I can tell you that this person had a lucky night as she also won the panettone in the lottery. She chose numbers 20, 5 and 2.

Our Christmas offering was a ground-breaker in many ways

• our first silent film
• first double bill
• one of our lowest attendances
• and our biggest financial loss

It's a shame we had such a low turnout because we try to show films that are not generally available in local cinemas. Surely a Film Society like ours should be showing films like The General? It would appear not, judging by last night's attendance.

The General was very well reviewed with the second highest audience score of the season (90%). The Mystery Short – WC Fields's The Dentist - was not to everybody's taste and got the lowest score so far (62%).

Here's what our audience had to say:

		The General
		The Dentist
A	D	Buster Keaton must have been inspiration for Frank Spencer
A	B	Good variation
A	B	The General: Unique The Dentist: Very Original
A	A
A	A	The General: Genius – spent the whole time in a state of anxiety – glorious music
A	C
A	C
A	C/D	The General was terrific – thoroughly enjoyed it. The Dentist mildly amusing and not a bit painful
A	B	Smiles all round
A	E	Buster Keaton's finest hour. Not WC Fields's finest hour
A	A
A	A	A lot of laughs – great
B	D
C	C
B	B	Best I've been to
B	C
B	?	The Dentist: ...er.. weird!
B	E	The Dentist: Bizarre!
B	E	Keaton was surprisingly more funny than I expected. Fields was not to my taste.
B	D	The General: Clever, funny. Good music. You engaged with Keaton's role. Silence helped the humour. The Dentist: Forced humour – not so enjoyable
B	D	The General: Amazing special effects and photography for the period. Stunts very good – the girl especially. Film well restored. Still funny. The Dentist: Not stood the test of time too well. Racism, sexism + not very funny.

On-line reviews:

Armando Iannucci in The Guardian pays tribute to Buster Keaton:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2006/feb/17/1

Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_General_(1926_film)

Film4 Reviews: The General - “a perfectly choreographed confection of action sequences, sophisticated sight gags and daredevil stunts (all performed by Keaton himself)”
http://www.film4.com/reviews/1926/the-general

IMDB users gave it 8.3 out of 10:
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0017925/

Rotten Tomatoes audience rating 92%:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1008166-general/