This classic Buster Keaton silent was described by LH as:

‘…a remarkable film, not merely a brilliantly designed star vehicle, but a comedy wholly imaginative in concept and innovative in detail, with more sight gags to the reel than Chaplin or even Stan Laurel ever dreamed of.’

Keaton plays Johnnie Gray, a Southern engineer during the Civil War who is refused entry into the army, thus disappointing his girl whom he loves about as much as his locomotive, The General. However, when both of them are taken by Northern troops Johnnie sets off in pursuit, and the film becomes...

‘…basically a succession of impeccably-timed gags devised by Keaton himself.’

The chase sequence involves a string of incidents and obstacles of breathtaking invention, in which the train itself becomes as much a character in the film as any human.

‘By the end of the adventure we seem to know its foibles as well as we know Keaton’s.’

LH sums it up:

‘Watching The General is like glancing through a book of splendid historical photographs, except that it tickles the funny bone as no actuality could or should. A true work of comic genius, it is also immensely likeable from first frame to last, the most universally accessible of classics.’