Principal cast
Buster Keaton as Johnnie Gray, Marion Mack as Annabelle Lee, Glen Cavender as Captain Anderson, Jim Farley as General Thatcher, and Frederick Vroom as A Southern General
Film 168 of 244 on the Screen Path
The General
Buster drives "The General" to trainload of laughter.
About the film
The General at a glance.
Screen Path places this 1926 film at stop 168 in one curated journey through cinema. The learning experience adds context before you watch and deeper analysis after.
During America’s Civil War, Union spies steal engineer Johnny Gray's beloved locomotive, 'The General'—with Johnnie's lady love aboard an attached boxcar—and he single-handedly must do all in his power to both get The General back and to rescue Annabelle.
Key craft credits
Bert Haines (director of photography), Devereaux Jennings (director of photography), Buster Keaton (editor), Sherman Kell (editor), and Clyde Bruckman (screenplay)
- Director
- Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton
- Release
- 1926-12-25
- Runtime
- 79 minutes
- Genres
- Comedy, War, and Romance
- Country
- United States
- Quiz
- 30 questions
The Screen Path journey
Before. After. Remember.
The featured film is watched outside Screen Path. The app provides the learning experience around it: a guide, an analysis, and a quiz with explanations.
01
Before you watch
Start with a spoiler-free video guide to the context and filmmaking choices worth noticing.
Spoiler-free02
After the film
Return after watching for a deeper video analysis of craft, meaning, and legacy.
Contains spoilers03
Quiz yourself
Answer 30 questions with clear rationales designed to make the ideas stick.
30 questions in this journeyWant to try a complete journey on the web? The Citizen Kane page includes the spoiler-free guide, after-film analysis, and a sample quiz.
Try Citizen Kane →Film data and images provided by TMDB. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.