671. The General (1926)

*The Warlock opens the door to his lair. He’s wearing a Cheetah striped suit, red plaid tie, a black fedora hat and Gargoyle shades. He’s holding a diamond studded goblet of Dr. Pepper*

W: Welcome to my lair…welcome I don’t think so but enter, enter my lair if you dare. I’m your host The Warlock.

*Warlock levitates before going inside*

W: Tonight on Warlock’s Movie Realm we’re going back to the past to take care of some unfinished business. When we did Public Domain Week, we covered the movies that came out in 1927. Some of them were either nominated for Oscar’s or their actors were. Now we’re going to take a look at one of the other movies that was nominated for something by the first Oscar’s. One of them I happen to have is a 1926 Buster Keaton comedy known as THE GENERAL. Released the same year as Battling Butler, THE GENERAL is about Buster being rejected by the Confederate army and having to guide his favorite train through enemy lines. Sounds silly to me.

*The Warlock takes his seat in the middle of the couch*

W: The good news is the movie is only 67 minutes long, so if it sucks at least the torture will be short. As mentioned earlier, even though THE GENERAL was released in 1926, it was nominated for Best Picture for the first Oscar’s ceremony. As we all know, Wings was the first winner. So, let’s see if Buster Keaton can make us all laugh. Grab your popcorn, grab your drink and grab your woman because its time for THE GENERAL.

Written by Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman, Charles Henry Smith, William Pettinger, Paul Gerard Smith and Al Boasberg

Directed by Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton

Cast:

Buster Keaton	…	Johnnie Gray
	Marion Mack	…	Annabelle Lee
	Glen Cavender	…	Captain Anderson
	Jim Farley	…	General Thatcher
	Frederick Vroom	…	A Southern General
	Frank Barnes	…	Her Brother
	Charles Henry Smith	…	Her Father (as Charles Smith)
	Joe Keaton	…	Union General
	Mike Donlin	…	Union General
	Tom Nawn	…	Union General
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
	Henry Baird	…	Soldier (uncredited)
	Joe Bricher	…	Soldier (uncredited)
	Jimmy Bryant	…	Raider (uncredited)
	Sergeant Bukowski	…	Officer (uncredited)
	C.C. Cruson	…	Officer (uncredited)
	Jack Dempster	…	Raider (uncredited)
	Keith Fennell	…	Soldier (uncredited)
	Budd Fine	…	Raider (uncredited)
	Eddie Foster	…	Union Railroad Fireman (uncredited)
	Ronald Gilstrap	…	Union Soldier (uncredited)
	Frank Hagney	…	Confederate Recruiter (uncredited)
	Ray Hanford	…	Raider (uncredited)
	Jack Hanlon	…	Bit Part (uncredited)
	Al Hanson	…	Raider (uncredited)
	Anthony Harvey	…	Raider (uncredited)
	Edward Hearn	…	Union Officer (uncredited)
	Hilliard Karr	…	Soldier (uncredited)
	Elgin Lessley	…	Union General Who Gives Command to Cross Bridge (uncredited)
	Louis Lewyn	…	Soldier (uncredited)
	Jackie Lowe	…	Boy Who Follows Johnny (uncredited)
	Billy Lynn	…	Soldier (uncredited)
	Ross McCutcheon	…	Raider (uncredited)
	Tom Moran	…	Raider (uncredited)
	Charles Phillips	…	Raider (uncredited)
	Red Rial	…	Raider (uncredited)
	Al St. John	…	Officer on Horseback (uncredited)
	Harold Terry	…	Union Soldier (uncredited)
	Ray Thomas	…	Raider (uncredited)
	Red Thompson	…	Raider (uncredited)
	James Walsh	…	Soldier (uncredited)
	Kenneth Hawley Ward	…	Soldier (uncredited)
	John Wilson	…	Union Soldier (uncredited)
	Jean Woodward	…	Undetermined Role (uncredited)

*Warlock reads the tag-line*

W: “After being rejected by the Confederate military, not realizing it was due to his crucial civilian role, an engineer must single-handedly recapture his beloved locomotive after it is seized by Union spies and return it through enemy lines.”

W: Hahahaha what?