Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by kanesays on April 04, 2005 at 13:10:30

In Reply to: "The General" posted by rico on April 4, 2005 at 10:40:17:

The General is Keaton's crowning achievement. I favor it over all works of Chaplin, The Marx Brothers, Harold Lloyd, or any other 'drama/comedy' film of the early part of this century. THE GENERAL is also believed to be the most expensive silent comedy ever made. The bridge collapse scene alone cost $42,000 to shoot (That's $2 million dollars by today's standard). Three years before Buster's death in 1966, Keaton said, "I was more proud of that picture than any I ever made."

My favorite moment is when during the getaway from the enemy lines, Annabelle is stoking the fire and throws a small and woefully inadequate stick into the General's boiler. Buster sees this and then sarcastically hands her an even smaller stick, she, unknowingly throws that in too. If memory serves, he starts to strangle her, stops and then gives her a kiss. That is a timeless gag that still works today as well as the physical humor he performs so well. Humor that still holds up and holds up well.

One more interesting note that I read on the production:

'The movie's total budget ultimately exceeded $750,000 but it grossed only $474,000 on its first release. Today, the reasons for its box-office and critical failure seem almost inexplicable. True, it wasn't as funny as other Keaton films, but it was never intended as an all-out laugh riot. Perhaps audiences were beginning to resent a comic star who (half a century before Eddie Murphy) was increasingly grounding his on-screen character in superhuman competence instead of all-too-human incompetence.'

That to me is a facscinating revealing statement, 'grounding his on-screen character in superhuman competence instead of all-too-human incompetence.'

Even his character choices were 50 years ahead of his contemperaries.