Excellent, a Must See

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Living in 2018, it is impossible to imagine what the audience of that time think of this film . For me , it doesn't look that funny but it still entertains and is special in its own ways. Comedy completely relies on stunts . Each and every stunts amazed me. It is hard to believe how they shot it almost a century ago.Before this I have watched Sherlock jr. . While that film relies heavily on its special effects , this one seems to be more realistic (Many will disagree with me) . Buster Keaton himself performed all the stunts and no special effects were used .People always compare Buster Keaton with Charlie Chaplin. For me ,Keaton was not that good as an actor atleast in the silent films . Technical aspects of his are not either great . But one thing at which he was better is writing scripts . He was far more innovative than Chaplin . He was master at using special effects and stunts for comedy . Something even the modern day directors can't. For me Keaton >Chaplin.

I set out a couple of years back to see if I could watch everything on the top 250. There have been movies on the list I was very underwhelmed by, and there have been those I have loved. This is a movie that I would have never just watched had I not been going through the list, but it is now one of my favorite movies. I had seen a few couple of silent films before seeing this, mostly Charlie Chaplin, but this introduced me to Buster Keaton and it instantly made me want to go find as many of his old films as I could. While I liked a great many of them, The General still stands above them all. I have shown this movie to friends and family who have never watched silent films and, despite their reservations, they have all loved it. It takes a while for the movie to get going, but once it does the stunts are amazing considering Buster performed them all. Highly recommend.

There are some truly wonderful scenes in this film, which is full of adventure, comedy, and some pretty impressive stuntwork on moving trains by Buster Keaton and the other actors. The premise is that Keaton, a train conductor, has volunteered to fight for the South at the outset of the Civil War, but been turned down. When his train is stolen by Union soldiers, he immediately gives chase, on foot, then a handcar, briefly a bicycle, and then finally another train, not knowing quite yet that his girlfriend (Marion Mack) was inadvertently also kidnapped.In one of the memorable early scenes, Keaton is sitting on the connecting rod of the locomotive, lost in thought, when it starts up, bobbing him up and down. In another, he packs a cannon on his train with a massive charge, and as its angle slowly descends before firing, it appears he's going to blow himself up, until his train at the last minute hits a curve and he nearly hits his intended target. It's just wonderful. There is also of course the scene with a Union train going out onto a burning bridge which then collapses, one of the most iconic (and expensive) scenes of the era.In addition to those "big" moments, there are also innumerable little things Keaton does which highlight his genius. He is just so lovable and talented. He uses one of the large railroad ties intended to derail him to knock another off the track, as his train is moving. When he's hiding under a table surrounded by Union officers, he's subtly kicked and jostled in funny ways. As he makes his escape with Mack, he stuffs her into a large sack that he had emptied of shoes, only to lose his own shoe in the process and struggle to locate it. I also thought I saw bits of Woody Allen in the scene where he urges her to be quiet, only to knock things over and make noise himself.Ambitious, awe-inspiring, influential, clever, and still funny 90+ years later. Is it the best ever? I don't know, I liked 'The Cameraman' (1928) even more, but still – damn good.

Enjoyed "The General" and it was a quick 70 minutes. Buster Keaton, of course, is from another era, when motion pictures were more visual (before sound). They relied on sight gags and optical wizardry and "The General" succeeds in spades.Haven't really seen much of Buster Keaton but his stunt work was impressive, even if his deadpan brand of humor is an acquired taste. The film is very good but I would stop short of calling it one of the all-time greats, as the TCM host claimed. But the story moved at a good pace and was interesting and absorbing. Can't ask for more than that, can you?