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Buster Keaton: The General

Film historian David Robinson and writer David Thomson celebrate the achievements of silent film star Buster Keaton. From 1999.

Film historian David Robinson and writer David Thomson celebrate silent film star Buster Keaton and his movie machine.

As the cinema of silence gave way to the squawking of the talkies Buster Keaton offered up this effortless, immaculate vehicle for his stone faced genius.

The General is a perfect, hilarious and human work of mechanical precision and endless heroism. The tale of a man and his two true loves - a wonderous steam engine and his sweetheart - caught up in the meticulously realized struggle of the American Civil War.

Perhaps his greatest comedy it was also one of Keaton's most painful failures.

Producer: Mark Burman

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 1999.

15 minutes

On radio

Mon 2 Feb 202609:30
BBC Radio 4 Extra

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