Anthing But Silent: Classics from the Silent Age

 

STARRING BUSTER KEATON, "THE GREAT STONE FACE"

THE GENERAL

Tuesday, March 25 at 7:30pm

 

$9 Members / $12 Public  

Tickets can also be purchased at the box office during theatre hours or

by calling Brown Paper Tickets toll free at 1-800-838-3006. No Refunds.

 

Live score performed and improvised by Ben Model

on the Cinema's brand new Mighty Miditzer Theater Organ!

Only superlatives will do to describe Buster Keaton’s hilarious Civil War comedy. Made in 1927, at the culmination of the silent era, it sees the graceful, stone-faced genius at his inventive best. Annabelle Lee, fiancée of railway engineer Johnnie Gray (Keaton), wrongly suspects him of cowardice. When Union spies abduct her – along with her rival for Johnnie’s affections, the titular locomotive – he hot-rails it in pursuit of them both. What follows is a thrilling adventure, based upon a pair of train chases, that is as superbly structured as it is executed.The extraordinary budget (some $400,000) allowed Keaton unprecedented freedom – and resulted in a series of his most spectacular large-scale set pieces. But what makes the film so special is the way the timing, audacity, and elegant choreography of its sight gags, acrobatics, pratfalls and dramatic incidents is matched by Buster’s directorial artistry, his acute observational skills working alongside the physical élan and sweet subtlety of his own performance.

USA, 1927, 75 min.

 

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