Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

The General (1926)

The General (1926) was the basis of the reestablishment of Buster Keaton’s reputation in the late 1940s, when the world rediscovered his brilliant comedic talents. Over the years, The General has come to be considered one of Buster’s crowning artistic moments, despite the fact that the film was greeted by a number of ho-hum reviews in 1926.

Full of comedic invention and carried by more plot than usual for a Keaton film, The General remains a pleasing and memorable cinematic experience for the hoards of Buster’s fans.

Buster is a railroad engineer in the American South when Civil War is declared. To impress his sweetheart, he attempts to enlist in the Confederate Army, but is disallowed because he is far more valuable as a railroad engineer. Not knowing this, Buster makes several attempts to join incognito before resigning himself to failure and shame.

Soon, however, Buster is drawn accidentally into the Union’s plans of infiltration and sabotage. When spies steal Buster’s train, with his girl on it, he snaps into action.

For years now, The General has remained number one in the Top 10 of the Silent Era website’s Top 100 Silent Era Films list, as voted upon by our readers, often claiming the number one spot. For the viewer who is just discovering silent films, The General is one of the first films that should be seen as it features many memorable moments, including several inventive sight gags — some involving the narrow-gauge steam locomotive, The General.

— Carl Bennett

The film is accompanied by a music score composed by Carl Davis and performed by the Thames Silents Orchestra.

Supplemental material includes the featurettes “Reflections on The General” (5 minutes) and “Buster Keaton: The Luminary,” (5 minutes, both excerpted from the 2018 documentary The Great Buster: A Celebration); two modern Cohen trailers for the restorations of these two films; and an 8-page insert booklet with little useful content.

This is our recommended home video edition of the film, along with the 2009 Kino BD edition noted below.

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This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from a high-definition video transfer of an excellent 35mm print struck from the original nitrate camera negative. The transfer was remastered specifically for Blu-ray Disc release, even though a previous HD transfer was made by Kino for their 2008 remastered DVD edition. There is still a light amount of dust and speckling, and some frame jitters, but not enough of any of it to be a distraction.

The film is accompanied by three optional music scores: the Carl Davis score from Photoplay Productions, performed by the Thames Silents Orchestra (5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo sound), that was previously available on laserdisc and VHS videotape in the USA, a piano and violin score arranged and conducted by Robert Israel (previously available on Kino’s 1999 DVD, noted below), and a theatre pipe organ score performed by Lee Erwin, recorded at Carnegie Hall (apparently, many eons ago).

Supplemental material includes a video tour of the authentic General locomotive (16:9 anamorphic, 18 minutes); a tour by John Bengtson of General filming locations in northwest Oregon (4 minutes); home movie footage (1 minute); filmed introductions by Gloria Swanson from the Silents Please television series (2 minutes) and Orson Welles from The Silent Years series (12 minutes); a montage of Keaton locomotive and rail car gags (6 minutes); and a photo gallery (82 images).

This is our recommended home video edition of the film, along with the 2019 Cohen BD edition noted above.

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This Blu-ray Disc boxset contains the 2009 Kino high-definition home video release of Buster Keaton’s The General, which is identical to Kino’s 2009 single-disc Blu-ray Disc edition noted above.

The film is accompanied by three optional music scores: the Carl Davis score, performed by the Thames Silents Orchestra; a piano and violin score arranged and conducted by Robert Israel; and a theatre pipe organ score performed by Lee Erwin.

This is a recommended home video edition of the film, along with the 2019 Cohen BD edition noted above.

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The film is accompanied by a music score composed by Carl Davis.

Supplementary material includes audio commentary on Sherlock Jr. by historian David Kalat; a video interview with film scholar Peter Kramer discussing The General; a documentary on Keaton and his struggles working within the Hollywood studio system (52 minutes); an audio recording of Buster Keaton in conversation with television writer Bill Cox (58 minutes); video essays on Sherlock Jr. and The General shooting locations by John Bengtson; “Movie Magic & Mysteries” featurette; filmed introductions to The General by Orson Welles and Gloria Swanson; a video tour featurette on The General; home movie footage taken on the set of The General; a video essay on the production of Steamboat Bill, Jr.; and an insert booklet with articles on the three films, historical writings, and photographs.

Sight unseen, this is our recommended European home video edition of the film. North American collectors will need a region-free PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.

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This two-disc DVD edition features a new high-definition video transfer from a 35mm print struck from the original nitrate camera negative. Kino notes that the new transfer stabilizes frame jitters, and beginning nitrate composition has been digitally removed and the picture contrast balanced. The results are gorgeous, with striking picture details that have a great feeling of depth. There is still a light amount of dust and speckling, and some frame jitters but not enough of any of it to be a distraction.

The film is accompanied by three optional music scores: the Carl Davis score from Photoplay Productions, performed by the Thames Silents Orchestra (5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo sound), that was previously available on laserdisc and VHS videotape in the USA, a score arranged and conducted by Robert Israel (previously available on Kino’s 1999 DVD, noted below), and a theatre pipe organ score performed by Lee Erwin, recorded at Carnegie Hall.

The supplemental section includes a video tour of the authentic General locomotive (16:9 anamorphic, 18 minutes), a tour by John Bengtson of General filming locations in northwest Oregon (4 minutes), home movie footage (1 minute), filmed introductions by Gloria Swanson (from the Silents Please television series, 2 minutes) and Orson Welles (from The Silent Years series, 12 minutes), a montage of Keaton locomotive and rail car gags (6 minutes), and a photo gallery (82 images).

This edition is highly recommended to those who have not made the jump to Blu-ray Disc.

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This 2006 DVD edition from The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra has been transferred from very-good to excellent 35mm print materials, and appears to utilize the same full-frame video transfer from other David Shepard editions noted below. While print speckling is higher than in the 1999 Kino edition, the Mont Alto disc benefits from its newer DVD mastering, with a sharper picture that looks impressive on high-definition monitors.

The presentation features an excellent, highly entertaining music score compiled by Rodney Sauer and performed by the five-piece orchestra. In a novel twist, the film is presented with optional subtitles identifying the accompanying music compositions, which we hail as a great pioneering move in the presentation of silent films on home video. The musically uneducated can now identify which contemporary music pieces have been adapted for the accompaniment, and begin to understand the use of musical themes of underscore the progression of the plot and action and to suggest a mood to associate with a character’s actions and personality. A great idea.

The disc’s supplemental material includes audio commentary on the film and the music score by Howie Movshovitz and Rodney Sauer (which includes a few surprising insights), a video essay by Rodney Sauer on silent film music scores in general and the 1926 music cue sheet compiled for The General by James C. Bradford in particular, a video trailer for the Mont Alto edition, and an option to play the film with an intermission title card after Buster’s rescue of Annabelle — a great pee-break option for those in-home showings to groups of friends.

The combination of the sharp video transfer coupled with an excellent music score makes this Mont Alto edition a recommended option to the remastered Kino edition noted above.

One of the burning questions we asked on the announcement of this Blu-ray Disc edition was, “Since Kino has already released the best-looking edition of The General we know of, why do they need another Blu-ray Disc release?” Perhaps this new edition would be an improvement on their 2009 disc? Well, unfortunately, this is not so. The 35mm source print utilized for this release is very-good but, whether in the print or the 2K scan, the shadow areas are darker and less detailed, and overall it is not as sharp as in the print utilized for the 2009 Blu-ray Disc edition. Some digital clean-up has been performed to remove speckling, but there is still some image flickering present. It is worth noting that there is a minute amount of improvement in the latter reels. Also, each film in this edition is available on its own disc, which means that there is no compressing the video to fit two films on one disc — a definite plus.

The film is accompanied by optional orchestral music scores by Robert Israel (2.0 stereo) and Joe Hisaishi (5.1 surround). The brand-new Israel score is one of the best things about this release, lively and entertaining, and the new Hisaishi score ain’t bad neither.

Supplementary material includes audio commentary by Michael Schlesinger and Stan Taffel; a filmed introduction by Gloria Swanson originally produced for the Silents Please television series (2 minutes); a filmed introduction by Orson Welles originally filmed for the Silent Years television series (12 minutes); and Return of the General an abbreviation of the film Here Comes the General produced by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad about the early 1960s restoration of the original General locomotive engine, with accompanying music by Eric Beheim (11 minutes).

I don’t think that many collectors will be replacing their 2009 Kino Blu-ray Disc with this release. There are DVD editions noted above that still look better than this BD disc.

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The film is accompanied by optional orchestral music scores by Robert Israel (2.0 stereo) and Joe Hisaishi (5.1 surround). The brand-new Israel score is one of the best things about this release, lively and entertaining, and the new Hisaishi score ain’t bad neither.

Supplementary material includes audio commentary by Michael Schlesinger and Stan Taffel; a filmed introduction by Gloria Swanson originally produced for the Silents Please television series; a filmed introduction by Orson Welles originally filmed for the Silent Years television series; and Return of the General an abbreviation of the film Here Comes the General produced by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad about the early 1960s restoration of the original General locomotive engine, with accompanying music by Eric Beheim (11 minutes).

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This early DVD edition 0f The General reveals a very-good to excellent 35mm source print utilized for the slightly-windowboxed analog video transfer, as produced by David Shepard. The print is compromised by some blotches in the first reel, frame jitters, some speckling, dust and light print wear. The older video transfer plays reasonably well on newer HD monitors, but Kino’s remastered editions (noted above) look even better.

The film is accompanied by an excellent small ensemble music score composed and arranged by Robert Israel.

The DVD also includes The Playhouse (1921) and Cops (1922). Based on our familiarity with the films themselves we recommend them, as they are among the funniest Buster Keaton produced.

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The edition features new musical accompaniment by The Alloy Orchestra.

If you own a copy of this edition and would be willing loan it to Silent Era for review, please contact us.

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North American collectors will need a region-free PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.

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Now touted as Buster Keaton’s best feature film, The General has been well represented on home video by the DVD edition from Kino International. On this disc, however, the greyed-out 16mm reduction print used for the video transfer is watchable but hardly comes close to the quality of image detail and greytone range that exists in 35mm prints from the Raymond Rohauer collection (which originate from nitrate prints that were held over the years by Keaton himself). The silent-speed transfer is generously framed, with the intertitles clearly seen on most television monitors.

The film is accompanied by a series of canned orchestral recordings, which have little in mood to do with the story it scores. I don’t know that Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance” is appropriate accompaniment for a Keaton comedy, but Khachaturian’s “Sabre Dance” does OK in a chase sequence.

The Paleface (1922) and The Blacksmith (1922), two very good Keaton shorts, are the standouts on this disc, which appear to be presented from video transfers originally prepared by David Shepard for home video release by Kino International. Both films have utilized 35mm print materials for the transfers, which feature a broad range of greytones and very good image detail. However, experienced eyes will detect a slightly lower-quality appearance to these shorts on this Navarre disc over the Kino editions, due to the higher MPEG compression of the video information. Both films are accompanied by canned orchestral music scores.

If viewers are more budget than quality conscious, this disc will be a good buy. However, we recommend the Kino DVD editions of these films over this disc from Navarre.

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This budget DVD edition is OK in the grand line-up inexpensive discs. It has been mastered from the same video transfer (right down to the music) as the Navarre edition, prepared from a 16mm reduction print of acceptable greyscale range, although the image detail is a little soft as is characteristic of 16mm prints. There is the usual amount of dust, speckling, light scratches (some of which were present in the source print that this print was copied from), and some mild frame jitters in this silent-speed video transfer.

Ultimately, there is enough image detail to keep this edition watchable for the uninitiated, but quality-minded collectors will still want the editions from Kino and Image noted above.

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Like most budget DVD editions of silent films, this disc has been mastered at an appropriate speed from a 16mm reduction print, which is soft of focus, but has a reasonable greyscale range that is at times a little contrasty. The video master is identical (right down to the music) to the budget Navarre and Delta editions noted above, however this edition is the best of the three due to a higher video bit rate that produces a slightly smoother final image. Of the three editions prepared from this transfer, we recommend this disc.

This multifilm edition also features the Harold Lloyd sound comedy The Milky Way (1936), mastered from a 16mm print, which is at least watchable. For our comments on this edition of College (1927), see our College on home video page.

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Once again it appears that the same video transfer as budget GoodTimes, Navarre and Delta editions noted above has been used to master this budget edition from Alpha Video. As in those discs, this edition has been prepared from a slightly greyed-out but reasonably-detailed 16mm reduction print, with the usual shortcomings. The resulting picture, after having been compressed for DVD, is a little grainier than the above editions. Being the same video master, this edition is also accompanied by the same compilation music score of preexisting orchestral recordings in mono sound.

Honestly, while this edition is watchable, we still recommend the Kino edition.

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This low-budget DVD edition has been mastered from a 16mm reduction print. While the source print has the color-toning of other higher-quality prints, the color fades to black & white at the left-hand edge of the picture. As would be expected from an older reduction print and an analog video transfer, the picture details are a bit blurry — nowhere near as detailed as can been viewed elsewhere. Missing beginning and end titles have been replaced with video-based titles.

The film is presented with a music score performed on piano, possibly by William Perry. If so, it is very likely that the source print originates from the Paul Killiam collection.

The majority of the titles in this boxset have previously been offered by other budget disc producers and may be of similar low-quality. While the temptation is to get three discs for a low price, the quality of prints used for the video transfers are commensurately low. Not recommended.

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Also included in the collection are two Betty Boop golden era sound cartoons.

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The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting recordings.

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The edition is accompanied by a music score performed by Stuart Oderman.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from REELCLASSIC DVD through . . .

Other RAILROAD FILMS of the silent era available on home video.

Other silent film music scores by CARL DAVIS available on home video.