The General (1926)
The next time a CGI movie makes you sigh with its lack of style and verve, you’ll feel especially awed by The General, a silent black and white movie masterpiece that pretty much epitomes the concept of pulling out all the stops.
Buster Keaton’s character helping the Confederate Army hasn’t aged well. Everything else has. A bit of a bomb in its time, The General is stunning now thanks to its clockwork inventiveness and derring-do. It’s hard to believe anyone made anything this ambitious, so early in the life of cinema.
Keaton, “the great stone face” throws his body into violent-yet-comic hazards without changing his expression — a skill he developed while being kicked around vaudeville stages by his father, hence the nickname “Buster.” Okay, maybe that didn’t age so well, either.
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