It's more a film to be admired for Keaton's technical genius and some inventive set-pieces than for the actual plot. Perhaps the scale of the film was too large for the audience at the time when they simply wanted to cheer for the hero.
And yes, it's also a bit hard to cheer for Keaton when he wins the day for the Confederacy.
The actual plot was a real-life event from the Civil War, so you'd have to fault reality for that. Keaton added a love interest, which he then mined for comedy gold.
Keaton chose to have Johnny be a rebel for a number of reasons, the first one being, of course, that the real-life railroad engineer who chased and retrieved The General was a Southerner. Keaton also felt that audiences would find an underdog to be more sympathetic and plucky. Since the South ultimately lost, this added another layer of underdogness, so to speak, to Johnny's character.
Who needs a plot? It's a chase, pure and simple - the purest of storylines.
And getting hung up on the fact that Johnnie is a Confederate is the kind of myopic thinking that prevents one's mind from seeing other points of view or perspective. Do you have problems with Gone with the Wind, too?
i always prefer english or my own language so for one of all reasons i don't have to worry about the subtitles passing too soon, so throughout watching this silent movie it was stressful the cards would disappear too fast, and you constantly had to watch the screen, that's why i also like how english speaking news channels dub everything to english. the photo he gave the girl looked funny. i had to watch buster keaton's twilight zone appearance right after this, quite the different episode they have managed to adapt to radio in "the twilight zone radio dramas".
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invisible man lonesome street lights,
long for home lord happier times,
of hope and dreams when you knew you were alive,
when the world didnt fit in a one roomer with cracked pipes,
tryin find purpose and place for me,
shake these weary steps and return as invisible teen.
I am watching it now. This is my first Buster K film. The movie has held up well for nearly 100 years.
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