The General

The Fastest Comedy of All Time: Buster Keaton’s The General, in a restored 4K version, returns to theaters to mark the 100th anniversary of its premiere! After the screening, join us for a discussion with Michał Oleszczyk and Sebastian Smoliński.

A locomotive stands at the station… One of the greatest silent films – and one of the best comedies in the history of cinema – celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. On this occasion, we would like to pay tribute to the genius of Buster Keaton: the giant of film burlesque, the king of brilliant gags, and the master of slapstick. The General is Keaton’s best-known film, one that fully showcases the breadth of his talent and his astonishing ingenuity.

The film is presented in a crystal-clear, restored 4K version, thanks to which every detail, every lightning-fast joke, and every stunt is breathtaking. The sensational orchestral score for The General was composed by Carl Davis, a highly regarded composer of silent film music.

We meet the main character, engineer Johnny Gray (played, of course, by Buster himself), on the eve of the Civil War in the South. He fails to enlist in the army, and his fiancée Annabelle (Marion Mack) refuses to speak to him until he’s in uniform. Soon, Johnny’s locomotive, “The General,” is hijacked by enemy Union troops: our hero will be able to test his fighting spirit by setting out in pursuit of his beloved locomotive and, in the process, rescuing Annabelle from danger.

The General is a war film, an action film, a romance, and a comedy of breathtaking precision – all in one. Keaton’s film plunges us into a chase across America, shot entirely on location, featuring hundreds of extras and stunts that no one has dared to repeat since. At the center of all this turmoil is a brave train engineer who is only seemingly a “man with a stone face” as Keaton was often described. After all, Buster’s facial expressions, gestures, body language, and eyes express more than a thousand words.