Friday 21 January 2011

Fort Sumter has been fired upon.

The General (1926)
Chosen by me from my stack of unwatched DVDs.


I use as my titles for each blog entry a quote from the film that I think is funny or indicitive of the movie or just something I can remember (I should possibly take notes, for a couple of films I've had to watch the trailer afterwards to pull a quote) so of course I decided to catch a silent movie last night. Not known for their illuminating dialogue, I could have just gone for a simple '...' but since I've got at least 2 more silent films on the pile that joke would get old fast. And seeing as I don't know how to write the plinky piano sounds of the soundtrack I've settled for one of the dialogue cards. So there we go.

That is more than I am likely to write about the film itself, which I found a little dull. A weak ineffectual lead bumbles his way through to being a hero, undeservedly. This would be fine if it was funny, but a couple of neat gags aren't enough for it's 75 mins running time, despite some good looking shots and obvious love for the trains.

Check out the delightful Dexter's Films for another look at The General with an adorable photo

1 comment:

  1. Oo, we have this at number 18 of our list. I like Keaton though and I figure it has to be better than sitting through Titanic again.

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