Buster Keaton's Film The General

Buster Keaton’s film, The General is a monumental silent film in the film industry history. The General and Buster Keaton have left a creative mark in the film industry that has proven to shape the film industry forever using a true story based off of the American Civil War. Buster Keaton’s film, The General shows elements of the body, the landscape, and the face that really shape the way we watch film today. Buster Keaton uses creative approaches using the body, landscape, and the face that qualifies The General as one of the greatest films in American history. As Cohen writes, “Keaton is a uniquely self-reflexive figure in silent film because he associates his character’s acquisition of physical mastery with the capabilities of his medium;

Cohen adds, “The medium of silent film brought about a fundamental change in how we see the world in which we move. It took landscape from its traditional representational role as a backdrop for action or object for contemplation and gave it a complex, dynamic connection to the human subject that was operating within it.” (Cohen, 106) There was a scene in The General where Johnnie is pursuing Union trains that are chasing him, Johnnie sets the bridge on fire and a fully operational steam locomotive and cars crash in the Row River. According to The Vintage News, that scene alone was the most expensive scene ever in silent film history costing over $42,000. That scene didn’t only bend the budget on production but it brought real life destruction of the landscape to the viewers eyes. Throughout Buster Keaton’s career, he became widely known for real stunts and refused to fake clips for the films. According to The Guardian, “Undeterred, Keaton claimed that he never refused a stunt, however dangerous; in fact, he frequently doubled for other actors when they needed to take a fall.” This claim directly backs up the lengths he went with the landscape to make sure the destruction of the train was absolutely real. Keaton utilized the landscape as well by using wide shots of the forest when in large battle scenes to make it seem much

Keaton’s comedy allowed viewers to laugh and emotionally connect at character’s facial expressions and actions during the film which was a different between Keaton’s previous career of live performance where the performer could actually see how the viewer responds. Cohen explains, “Film was a revolutionary means of providing intimacy without involvement, the opportunity to glaze closely at a face without its registering awareness of being looked at.” (Cohen, 113) The General does a great job showing facial expressions of all the characters in the film but also leaves a puzzling mystery behind one character in specific. Keaton’s film did a great job showing expressions of the moods or situations that the characters got into but Buster Keaton’s character, Johnnie Grey, used every facial expression except a smile of happiness. Keaton’s character never smiled even after the events in the plot of the movie where Johnnie got his train back, his girl back and got he promoted as a lieutenant in the Confederate Army. By Keaton not using a happy facial expression, it could have been his way of showing the audience that even though the movie was a comedy, that the main plot and war actually happened in history and even though his film was a comedy about the American Civil War, he personally was serious about the topic and didn’t want to disrespect the historic value of the event.