The General: Masters of Cinema – Eureka Video (UHD)

Theatrical Release Date: USA, 1926
Directors: Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman
Writers: Al Boasberg, Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton, Charles Smith
Cast: Buster Keaton, Marion Mack, Glen Cavender, Jim Farley, Frederick Vroom, Charles Smith, Frank Barnes, Joe Keaton, Mike Donlin, Tom Nawn

Release Date: May 18th, 2026
Approximate Running Time: 79 Minutes 45 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1 Aspect Ratio / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / HDR10
Rating: U (UK)
Sound: DTS-HD 5.1 With English Intertitles
Subtitles: N/A
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: £24.99 (UK)

"Western & Atlantic Railroad train engineer Johnnie Gray (Keaton) loves two things: his sweetheart Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack) and his prized locomotive, The General. When the Civil War breaks out, Johnnie intends to enlist in the Confederate Army, but is rejected – ending his budding relationship with Annabelle. As the war rages on, though, spies working for the Union steal Johnnie’s beloved engine and inadvertently kidnap Annabelle, leading him to doggedly pursue them both across enemy lines." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation from a 4K digital restoration, presented in a new and exclusive Dolby Vision HDR (HDR 10 compatible) grade."

The General comes on a 100 GB triple layer 4K UHD.

Disc Size: 89.1 GB

Feature: 56.7 GB

For a film that is 100 years old, the source looks remarkable. Grey and black levels are strong throughout, image clarity and compression are solid, and the image retains an organic appearance.

Audio: 5/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD 5.1 with English intertitles. The audio sounds excellent.

Extras:

Extras for this release include home-movie footage (1 minute, no sound), an archival featurette with locomotive expert Harper Harris titled Video Tour of The General; he discusses the real General train and Buster Keaton’s film The General (18 minutes 5 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), an archival featurette with John Bengston, author of Silent Echoes titled Filming Locations, topics discussed are Cottage Grove, Oregon the location where The General was filmed (4 minutes 29 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), an archival introduction by Gloria Swanson filmed for television (2 minutes 13 seconds, LPCM mono English, no subtitles), an archival introduction by Orson Welles filmed for television (12 minutes 21 seconds, LPCM mono English, no subtitles), an archival interview with film scholar Peter Kramer (40 minutes 4 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), a video essay by film critic and editor Luke Ryan titled A Brave Engineer: Buster Keaton’s Last Ride, he discusses locomotives in the films of Buster Keaton (52 minutes 20 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), a video essay by Imogen Sara Smith, author of Buster Keaton: The Persistence of Comedy titled Bound for Glory (25 minutes, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with film historian David Kalat, a O-Card slipcase (limited to 2,000 copies), and a 40-page booklet (limited to 2,000 copies) with cast & crew information, an essay titled Buster Keaton: The Fred Astaire of Slapstick written by Phillip Kemp, an essay titled Shaun the Sheep: Buster Keaton Reborn? written by Richard Haynes, contemporary reviews, and information about the transfers titled Notes on Viewing. 

Summary:

The General was co-directed by Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton. Notable films directed by Clyde Bruckman include Feet First, Movie Crazy, and Man on the Flying Trapeze. Besides directing, Buster Keaton co-wrote the screenplay and was the star of The General. Along with Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton is widely regarded as one of the masters of silent cinema.

A train engineer is rejected when trying to enlist because he’s more valuable to the war effort in his current role. Determined to help in some way, the engineer inadvertently plays an instrumental role in foiling the enemies' plan to sabotage a bridge.

While many sound films from Hollywood’s Golden Era have gained a reputation that has led subsequent generations to discover them, the same cannot be said about the majority of silent films. The advent of sound shifted a lot of the focus away from what we see to what we hear in cinema. When one watches a silent film for the first time, they quickly discover how much of a role their eyes play since there is no spoken dialogue. That said, where so many filmgoers have become passive in their watching, silent cinema requires 100% of your attention.

This brings us to Buster Keaton’s The General; the things that immediately grabbed me while watching this film were its minimal intertitle cards and perpetual motion that rarely lets the action remain still. Another standout aspect of The General, compared to other silent films, is how much of it was actually shot on location instead of in the controlled environment of a sound stage. That said, Buster Keaton’s instincts as a filmmaker and the way he used the camera, notably constantly moving, were way ahead of their time, especially in an era where most of his contemporaries relied heavily on master shots.

Another way that silent cinema differs from sound cinema is its performances. In contrast to sound cinema, which utilized voices to express emotions, silent cinema relied solely on physical movements to convey feelings. Fortunately, Buster Keaton was someone who could say more with just a single body movement than someone could convey with 100 words. While he was most known for his comedic talents, notably deadpan humor, he was also someone who delivered when it came to deeper moments that resonate. That said, there is humor throughout that works seamlessly with the story. The two moments that stand out most are a scene where Buster Keaton’s character, who’s hiding under a table, overhears a sabotage plot and the finale where a bridge is blown up while a train goes across. Ultimately, The General is an exceptional film that’s withstood the hands of time, making it Buster Keaton’s crowning achievement as a filmmaker.

The General gets a definitive release from Eureka Video. Highly recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a MPC-HC player and lossless PNGs.

 

Written by Michael Den Boer