General, The

Overall, this film definitely gets five out of five beans!!!

I have never lasted watching a silent film thus could not even imagine lasting for over sixty minutes, therefore to be entertained that entire time is completely unbelievable. One of my favourite features of this film was the music used and how many of the songs are reused to this day. Another quality of this film worth mentioning is the size of the cast and the number of horses that were used. The stunts in the movie are also quite impressive, especially since the film was released in 1927. It has been almost 100 years since this film was made so the stunt equipment and technology have improved significantly since then, therefore, to some the stunts might not seem that impressive, but they truly are when you think about how difficult they actually were.

To watch a silent film for over an hour and be entertained is impressive in itself. Growing up near the historic town of Barkerville, I have watched many silent films over the years but I have never lasted longer than ten minutes. They have always seemed like entertainment filler for a historic town but when you find a film like The General you see how amazing black and white silent films can truly be. Even though the movie is silent, the actors in it are so talented and organized that the whole story is told well even without hearing a word being spoken.

The entertaining instrumental music is due to many of those songs being reused numerous times since this film was released. Tons of scenes today that are set up a certain way or want to present a certain emotion, tend to play certain songs in the background. For example, many wedding scenes in films today play a song while the bride is walking down the aisle. It is almost a guarantee when you hear that song, you will instantly think of a wedding scene. The same thing happens with a certain graduation song. Neither of those songs in The General are played during those events but when you hear them that’s instantly what you will envision. When you have heard those songs repeatedly, but only in those certain scenes, hearing them in scenes that are completely different seems strange; but that is not the film’s fault and I personally find it entertaining, not a negative.

For something that was made over ninety-four years ago, the stunts and size of the cast are remarkable. To have over a hundred horses in one scene is very difficult to organize and to film without any mistakes but those filmmakers did a great job. It would be hard enough to film that scene if it was only people in it, but to include over a hundred horses as well is very impressive. Even if the film had the same equipment we have today, which it doesn’t, that scene would have been very tough to make.

Overall, I recommend this movie to everyone. Even if you are not a regular black and white film watcher, or hate silent films, I do think you will enjoy this one. After a few minutes of watching, you will barely notice the lack of vocals and become highly entertained.