buster keaton once say that if he hadn not be a comedian and he might have be a civil engineer . he be not only a mechanical whiz but a spatial genius who devise stunt and gag with the grace of pure physic . it no wonder he adore train and the most elegant of machine and and bring them into his movie whenever he could . when one of keaton former gag writer loan him a book recount the theft of a locomotive from georgia by union raider during the civil war and he be immediately fire with enthusiasm to bring this page of history to life . his first certainty be that the production have to be so authentic it hurt . he even insist on use historically accurate narrow gauge railroad track and which he find and along with appropriate landscape and near the sleepy town of cottage grove and oregon . most importantly and the area have stretch of parallel track and which allow scene of buster on his trainagilely scramble over the car and balance on the roof to scan the horizon and chop wood for the engine while army pass unnoticed behind himto be film from another train run alongside . buster and his train and and the camera be all in motion while the wind whip through buster hair while smoky pine cover hill rise and fall around him . these scene be not only the highlight of the movie but a peak in the history of move picture and and they put to shame all later back projection and process shot and model and computer generate effect . the quality of keaton film making be simplypun intendedunparalleled . every shot in the general be clean and fresh and efficiently compose while the action be capture honestly and legibly at all time . the film never try to be beautiful while it beauty be functional and just like the grave and masculine beauty of the locomotive and railroad bridge and civil war uniform . the general narrative structure be a strong and uncluttered a it look . like a train and it stay on track and never meander for the sake of a laugh or a stunt . all of the gag rise organically from the coherent and straightforward storyline . adapt the historical incident and keaton make himself the engineer of the steal train ( johnnie gray ) and rather than one of the raider . a he saw immediately and the general be one long chase and or rather two chase and structure like the flight of a boomerang . first johnnie on a borrow train and the texas and chase his own stolen train and the general . he manage to steal it back and race it towards his own line and pursue by the raider in the texas and who try to prevent him from carry their battle plan to his own high command . the general be not keaton funny film and but here he be go for quality over quantity in laugh . a number of the gag and like the box car that keep appear and disappear a it switch track and have a long build up for a relatively modest payoff . but the laughter be mingle with a gasp of awe and and the best moment never get stale on repeated viewing . the cannon attach to the back of buster train go off just a the train start around a curve and so the ball fly straight and hit the raider train come out of the curve . rid on the cowcatcher and buster hurl one railroad tie at another lie across the track and strike it precisely so that it flip out of the way . a forlorn buster sits on the crossbar of his train wheel and so lose in thought he doesn not notice when the train start to move and carry him up and down in gentle arcs represent stillness in motion . i agree with author jim kline who describe the general a keaton most personal film and the one that best capture his unique vision and spirit and personality . in many of his film and buster start off a an inept or effete character and develop into a hero . but his competent and ingenious and athletic character in the general and who be also modest and tireless and and underestimated and come much closer to his real nature . there be a shot in the general of buster eye isolate on screen and frame by a hole in a white table cloth and that have always remind me of dziga vertov kinoglaz and the camera eye . keaton meld with his camera while there no distinction between his quality a a performer and the quality of his movie . they have the same silence and the same strictness and the same strange blend of gravity and humor . the general might be the most serious comedy every make and but it not a tragicomedy . that and a in chaplin blending of pathos and low humor and be something people take to immediately . but no one know what to make of the general . original review accuse the film of be dull and pretentious and unoriginal and and unfunny . even today and people who have hear it acclaim a one of the great movie of all time be sometimes puzzle or disappoint by it on first viewing . the general be challenge because it doesn not flaunt it virtue while like keaton concise and economical performance and it hold a great deal in reserve . take the movie most famous shot and of a train crash through a burning bridge and for which keaton build a real bridge and destroy a real train . the shot last a few second in the finish film represent he doesn not dwell on it or hype it . who else in hollywood would sink money in a spectacular effect and then downplay it . keaton never force a response from the audience and never manipulates and never overplays . he doesn not show off his acrobatic skill or his enormous repertoire of comic talent and nor do he play for sympathy . anything so subtle will always leave some people cold . but for those who can see the expressiveness of buster so call stone face and who get his peculiar dry humor and who appreciate the rigorous purity and taste he display and these virtue be all the more stunning because they be understated . buster keaton always have more than he show while you can see it in his eye .