
Buster Keaton's masterpiece, and a strong contender for the greatest comedy ever made. Based loosely on a true Civil War incident, Keaton plays Johnnie Gray, a Southern railroad engineer whose two great loves — his locomotive ("The General") and his sweetheart — are both stolen by Union spies, launching an epic chase across the Georgia countryside. The film is a marvel of escalating spectacle: Keaton performed all his own stunts, including the most expensive single shot in silent film history (a real locomotive crashing through a burning bridge), and his deadpan determination in the face of increasingly impossible odds is endlessly, inexhaustibly funny. A commercial disappointment in 1926, it is now universally recognized as one of the pinnacle achievements of American cinema — and the action-comedy template that Hollywood has been chasing ever since.
Buster Keaton's masterpiece, and a strong contender for the greatest comedy ever made. Based loosely on a true Civil War incident, Keaton plays Johnnie Gray, a Southern railroad engineer whose two great loves — his locomotive ("The General") and his sweetheart — are both stolen by Union spies, launching an epic chase across the Georgia countryside. The film is a marvel of escalating spectacle: Keaton performed all his own stunts, including the most expensive single shot in silent film history (a real locomotive crashing through a burning bridge), and his deadpan determination in the face of increasingly impossible odds is endlessly, inexhaustibly funny. A commercial disappointment in 1926, it is now universally recognized as one of the pinnacle achievements of American cinema — and the action-comedy template that Hollywood has been chasing ever since.

Buster Keaton
Johnnie Gray

Marion Mack
Annabelle Lee

Glen Cavender
Captain Anderson

Jim Farley
General Thatcher

Frederick Vroom
A Southern General
Frank Barnes
Annabelle's Brother
Charles Henry Smith
Annabelle's Father

Joe Keaton
Union General

Mike Donlin
Union General
Tom Nawn
Union General
Henry Baird
Soldier (uncredited)
Joe Bricher
Soldier (uncredited)
Jimmy Bryant
Raider (uncredited)
Sergeant Bukowski
Officer (uncredited)
C.C. Cruson
Officer (uncredited)