On Seeing The General at Atlanta's Historic Fox Theatre

Atlanta's Fox Theatre

The General is a 1927 silent film co-directed by Buster Keaton (with Clyde Bruckman), and starring Keaton. It is, essentially, a comedy chase film with trains (the General is a train) and a damsel-in-distress. And, by the way, a pro-South Civil War movie. The good guys are the Confederates.

In 1861, train engineer Johnnie Gray (Buster Keaton) is in Marietta, Georgia to see one of the two loves of his life, his fiancee Annabelle Lee (the other being his locomotive, the "General"), when the American Civil War breaks out. He hurries to be first in line to sign up with the Confederate Army, but is rejected (without explanation) because he is too valuable to the Confederacy in his present job. On leaving, he comes across Annabelle's father and brother, who beckon to him to join them in line, but he sadly walks away, giving them the impression that he does not want to enlist. Annabelle coldly informs Johnnie that she will not speak to him again until he is in uniform.

A year passes, and Annabelle receives word that her father has been wounded. She travels north on the General to see him, but still wants nothing to do with Johnnie. When the train makes a stop, the passengers disembark for a quick meal. As planned, Union spies led by Captain Anderson (Glen Cavender) use the opportunity to steal the train. Annabelle becomes an inadvertent prisoner. Johnnie gives chase, first on foot, then by handcar and penny farthing bicycle, before reaching a station in Chattanooga. He alerts the army detachment there, which boards another train to give chase, with Johnnie manning the locomotive, the "Texas". However, the carriages are not hooked up to the engine, and the troops are left behind. By the time Johnnie realizes he is alone, it is too late to turn back.

The Union agents try a variety of methods to shake their dogged pursuer (convinced he is accompanied by Confederate soldiers), including disconnecting their trailing car and dropping railroad ties/sleepers on the tracks. As the unusual duel continues ever northward, the Confederate Army of Tennessee is ordered to retreat and the Northern army advances in its wake. Johnnie finally notices he is surrounded by Union soldiers and the hijackers see that Johnnie is by himself. Johnnie stops his locomotive and runs into the forest to hide.

At nightfall, Johnnie stumbles upon the Northern army encampment. Hungry, he climbs through a window to steal some food, but has to hide underneath the table when enemy officers enter. He overhears them discussing their plan to launch a surprise attack, securing the Rock River Bridge for their essential supply trains. Gray then sees Annabelle brought in; she is taken to a room under guard while they decide what to do with her. After the meeting ends, Gray manages to knock out one of the guards and free Annabelle. They escape into the woods in the pouring rain. Annabelle tells him how brave he was for risking his life to save her, unaware that he had no idea she was on the train.

The next day, Gray and Annabelle creep out of the woods and find themselves near a railway station, where Union soldiers, guns, trains and equipment are being organized for the attack. Seeing the General in the midst of it all, Johnnie devises a plan to warn the South. After sneaking Annabelle, hidden inside a sack, onto a boxcar behind the General, Johnnie steals his engine back. Two other trains, including the Texas, set out after the pair, while the Northern attack is immediately set in motion. In a reversal of the first chase, Johnnie has to fend off his pursuers. Finally, he starts a fire behind the General in the center of the Rock River Bridge.
Reaching friendly lines, Johnnie informs the local army commander of the impending attack. Confederate forces rush to defend the bridge. Meanwhile, Annabelle is reunited with her convalescing father. The Texas is driven onto the burning bridge, but it collapses, in what would later come to be recognized as the most expensive stunt of the silent era. Union soldiers try to ford the river, but Confederate artillery and infantrymen open fire on them, eventually driving them back in disarray.

As a reward for his bravery, Johnnie is enlisted in the army as a lieutenant. In the final scene, Johnnie tries to kiss his girlfriend, but is obliged to return the salutes of passing infantrymen. Gray finally uses one hand to embrace his girlfriend while using his other to blindly salute the men as they walk by. -- Wikipedia

 The screening was sponsored by the American Theatre Organ Society and Turner Classic Movies as part of the Coca-Cola Summer Film at the Fox Theatre. On hand was Clark Wilson, an organist and creator of scores for silent movies. He played the Fox's antique theatre organ, Mighty "Mo." The film was introduced by Ben Mankiewicz.

Now, don't get me wrong, The General is a blast. A lot of silent film and Golden Age Hollywood films leave me cold. They just don't speak to me. You won't be reading here about Bette Davis or Miss Barbara Stanwyk, the charms of Shirley Temple, or that one-note Cary Grant. But The General is very, very funny. And why shouldn't it be? Keaton helped define the parameters of film comedy. Wilson played the organ admirably, stirringly. Of course, he played about fifty variations of "Dixie." I've heard all of "Dixie" I ever need to hear. Ever.

I left the theatre feeling a little dirty. A pro-South Civil War movie, in Atlanta, to the accompaniment of Dixie, a clearly stirred & happy all-white audience, at a theatre where all the senior staff is white and the black employees are decked out in uncomfortable-looking period usher uniforms. One has to wonder, why of all the possible silent films, even Buster Keaton films, this one? It seemed, whether by conscious design or simply unthinking regional preferences, a night to bask in the light of the Old South.