The General: Pure visual ingenuity

This is the type of film, to show the wonders one can do with simple physical/circumstantial comedy. But beyond just inducing laughs, it is able to depict the intensity of the American civil war.

Renders one speechless

The General, by the silent era icon Buster Keaton, presents the most unusual issues, and then solves them in the most ingenious form imaginable. And in the end he sells it with his absolute composure at all times.

Furthermore, being the huge production it was, The General has no shortage of spectacular imagery, and some of the greatest practical effects in movie history. [...]

Worth mentioning, is that one thing we don't think about in this age of computers and advanced cinematic technology, is that in features such as this one, if you see something happening, it pretty much means it did actually happen.
Nowadays we can have literally anything taking place on screen, even if it is in fact not humanly possible, but what makes Keaton's films all the more impressive, is that he didn't have our resources, so if he wanted to show something humanly impossible, he just went and actually did it!

Watching movies like The General, makes you realize that silent pictures are a distinct art form, they are not really replaceable by spoken movies. I find that both these forms of visual entertainment should coexist, and the silent variety should not fall into oblivion. But sadly the sounds of film seem to have completely taken over the sounds of our imagination.

What did you think of The General? Would you like to see a silent movie comeback? Share your thoughts in the comments bellow!