Can someone explain to me why this is so great?

Sherlock Jr. was the first Buster film and I saw and it was non-stop stunts and comedy and I was expecting the same here. So I was a bit disappointed. Compare for example, the scene in Sherlock where he finds a dollar bill among the junk pile vs the scene in The General where he loses his shoe in the shoe pile. Similar set-ups but while the former had me in stitches, there was no pay-off in the latter.

But after reading some of the top reviews, I reconsidered. This film is really good at what it does. This film should be appreciated for the understated stunts, the action and attention to historical detail. In those areas, this is genius.

Which score did you hear with the movie? There are so many versions out there of varying quality. My personal favorite score is by Carl Davis, which can be heard in this brief montage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g193eTLigrQ

It's worth seeing again, preferrably on that KINO release. In addition to the Davis score, there are (I believe) two others which are also well done.

[deleted]

This was a silent movie - it did not come with a sound track!

TheLamplightersSerenade,

I always turn down silent movie's soundtracks because the crazy frenzied piano playing guarantees me a headache and that I'll never watch the film all the way through. That said, and noting I did turn it down, this is the first score I LOVED! The old standards fit the action so well that6 it was really cute, and when Johnnie was coming back to the tune of "When Johnnie Comes Marching Home Again" it tickled me to death!

Perhaps you don't like these old southern songs? Everybody can't love everything. I adored this enough for both of us. And I've never been further south than Missouri, Texas and Washington, D.C.

I saw the TCM version on 3/26/16 with the score redone but can't remember who it was, just that there was a cute photo of them at the very end. After a message about how they located music....

Liquid_Ozymandias and original poster,

I found it mind-blowing throughout! My first Buster Keaton film that I remember (getting old), I was totally blown away! Yes, attention to detail was amazing, but the energy of Keaton was so endearing, as was his character--he was so cute in that unpretentious and innocent way we rarely see any more. The activity onscreen was always a surprise, I never grew tired of what was happening. The constant climbing up, over, between, through and around moving locomotives never ceased to amaze me--from the early scene of him sitting on the long bar attached to the wheels, going up and down, up and down. That killed me!

I also loved how original the scenes felt--surprising since it's been nearly 100 years (for others to copy his originality) and he created this when there was little else--but he didn't use cheap emotional tricks unless we count mugging at the camera, a staple of silent films--and definitely something his female fans must have wanted a lot more of. But the character's behavior was more than enough to draw us in and make us root for him without the mugging. (I was even rooting for the South to win the war for a time there...LOL) Racing to enlist first, running around blocks and popping through lines to beat his loved one's brother and father to the enlistment window were endearing stunts that we could all relate to even if we could not have duplicated the athleticism.

The use of the trains was outstanding. He filmed them with strong contrast to surrounding scenery, such dark and heavy objects with inertia and constantly fueled steam engines propelling them onward--yet his character manipulated them as tho he was on his bicycle! The train would stop so quickly in spite of its size--it looked as if he had worked on trains all of his life. We learned to trust his expertise with the train and concentrate on the action. He always had another trick to try to stop the Northern soldiers. Johnnie never left me thinking he missed anything--an irritating thing in many movies where they try to make characters sympathetic for their stupidity. This guy knew his craft and thought of everything--and left the dumb stuff to the girlfriend who was not so familiar with trains or the tracks and geography. Except for the night in the woods...complete with bear AND bear trap.

I did not even know this was based so closely on a true story until after watching it all the way through and coming to IMDB to learn more of Buster Keaton and his work. One of the best movies I've seen in a while. Smart and silly, witty and touching. I'm wondering how much Woody Allen was influenced by Buster Keaton in those early films of his--Bananas, Sleeper, even Love and Death. My favorites with several others. Keaton was the master.

[deleted]

justejust,

NOPE. The Civil War does nothing for me. Nada. Zippo. I can't even watch documentaries about it. And I've watched just about everything that's ever been made about WWII in English and the Revolutionary War at least several times. But the Civil War was just death and more death. It is pure awful to me. But I adore The General.