A silent comedy flop that became one of the greatest films ever made
In short: Buster Keaton’s 1926 masterpiece, The General, was once dismissed by critics as tedious and unfunny. Today, it is celebrated for its breathtaking stunts and visual precision. Discover how this ambitious Civil War epic survived a disastrous initial reception to earn its place in the National Film Registry.
When Buster Keaton released The General in 1926, the film was a commercial and critical failure. Produced on a massive $750,000 budget, it earned only about $474,264 in the United States. Critics at the time, including those at The New York Times and Variety, panned the movie as a 'flop' that dragged, with some even questioning the morality of finding humor in a Civil War setting. This failure cost Keaton his creative independence, forcing him into a restrictive contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
The production was notoriously difficult, marked by on-set accidents, fires, and ballooning costs. Filmed in Cottage Grove, Oregon, the project employed 1,500 locals and utilized three 35 mm cameras to capture elaborate sequences, including a climactic train wreck that remained a local landmark for nearly twenty years. Keaton performed his own dangerous stunts, such as running along moving train roofs and sitting on locomotive coupling rods, often while distracted by his character's heartbreak.
Despite its rocky start, the film’s reputation underwent a massive transformation. By 1954, it entered the public domain, and by 1989, it was selected for the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry. Filmmakers like Orson Welles eventually hailed it as perhaps the greatest film ever made. Today, critics praise its authentic, photograph-like composition and sustained movement, cementing its status as a silent-era classic that finally received the recognition Keaton always believed it deserved.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: The General (1926 film)
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