Johnnie Gray is a train engineer in Marietta, Georgia, and has two great loves: his locomotive, The General, and his fiancée, Annabelle Lee. When the American Civil War breaks out, Johnnie rushes to enlist in the Confederate Army, but is rejected for being more valuable in his railroad job—though he's not told the reason. Misunderstood by Annabelle and her family, she refuses to speak to him unless he wears a uniform. When Union spies hijack his train and kidnap Annabelle along with it, Johnnie embarks on a daring mission to rescue both his engine and the woman he loves.

The General was inspired by a real event during the Civil War known as the Great Locomotive Chase. Today it's regarded as one of the greatest silent films ever made, but its release in 1926 was a commercial and critical disappointment. Audiences at the time didn’t warm to its genre-blending mix of comedy, war, and action. The film grossed only half a million dollars in the U.S.—far short of its massive $750,000 budget, personally backed by producer Joseph Schenck.

The film's poor performance had lasting consequences: Keaton lost his creative independence and was forced to sign with MGM, a move he would later describe as the beginning of his artistic decline.

In the years since, however, The General has been hailed as a cinematic tour de force, combining precise visual storytelling, mechanical spectacle, and deadpan comedy. The film’s extended train chase, performed with real locomotives and no special effects, remains one of the most ambitious sequences ever shot during the silent era.

In 1989, The General was part of the first group of films preserved by the U.S. National Film Registry for its cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance. It has featured prominently in global film polls, ranking #8 in Sight & Sound’s 1972 critics' poll and #10 in 1982. In 2002, critic Roger Ebert listed it both in his Top 10 films and in his Great Movies collection.

The General has since been reevaluated and is now often ranked among the greatest American films ever made. 

Trivia

• Filming took place in Oregon, on century-old railroad lines. The spectacular scene of the train collapsing into a river was entirely real, and at $42,000, it was the most expensive single shot of the silent era.

• The engine used as The General was an actual 19th-century locomotive, painstakingly restored for the production.

• The film entered the public domain in 1954 after the copyright wasn’t renewed, helping its later rediscovery and wide circulation.

• Keaton performed dangerously close stunts, including running along the train’s moving rods—one misstep would have been fatal.

• Despite its Civil War setting, the film is politically neutral, focusing on personal bravery rather than ideology.

The Soundtrack

Caspervek's Soundtrack for "The General" presents an interesting combination of the usual style of slapstick comedies (use of classical jazz and swing) with the presence of melodies of American folk music and sounds that recalls American Civil War songs.