Coming Wednesday, 7/19: 'The General' in Plymouth, N.H., plus notes about 'The Circle'

Buster Keaton catches cow in 'The General' (1926).

It's one of the great films of any era! 

It's Buster Keaton's 'The General' (1926). And your next chance to see it in a theater with live music (as it was meant to be seen) is on Wednesday, July 19 at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center in Plymouth, N.H.

Showtime is 6:30 p.m. Lots more info in the press release pasted in below.

I just did 'The General' last Saturday night in Brandon, Vt., with a crowd that was into it, which reminded me what a strong film it is in terms of audience response.

With good silent films, you're likely to get one or two moments where audiences spontaneously cheer or react in some way as one. 

With 'The General,' you get a dozen or more, if all goes well.

And by "goes well," I mean with the music. With 'The General,' as with other Keaton films and so many other comedies, I've learned to keep the music moving, but mostly light in texture. 

This enables an audience hear each other laughing or otherwise responding, which helps facilitate those "all at once" spontaneous reactions.

That's what happened in Brandon last Saturday night. One big moment after another—a good reminder of how these films can free up people to genuinely enjoy a shared experience.

'The General' on Saturday was followed by 'The Circle' (1925) on Sunday.

This Frank Borzage-directed MGM romantic comedy, adapted from a stage play by William Somerset Maugham, was a film I hadn't encountered before, and which surprised me.

How? By how it dealt with the cliché of young lovers eloping for romance. This situation, which ends so many stories, is only the very beginning of 'The Circle,' which attempts to answer the question "What next?"

And by "next," I mean 30 years later. And to see what time has wrought, and how Maugham works it into a contemporary love triangle heading in the same direction, is a very fun premise.

So I had high hopes for 'The Circle' and the screening this past Sunday at the Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H. 

However, Sunday in our part of the world brought torrential downpours, plus flash flood and tornado warnings urging people to stay off the roads. 

This depressed attendance to just a handful of hardy film buffs (thank you!), which I suspect was not enough critical mass to start the "spontaneous chain reaction" of laughter that you sometimes get with larger audience—and such as I experienced the night before with 'The General.'

Well, I think I'll have to give 'The Circle' another chance. We ran it as part of a 'Not Known to be Shown' series, which showcases films that to our knowledge have never played at the Town Hall Theatre, where movies have been on the bill since 1912.

Let's hope it doesn't take another 98 years before we get around to showing it again.

Okay, more info about Wednesday night's screening of 'The General' is pasted in below. See you Wednesday evening in Plymouth, N.H.!

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Buster Keaton and co-star in 'The General' (1926).

TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 2023 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Buster Keaton's 'The General' with live music at Flying Monkey on Wednesday, July 19

Civil War railroading comedy/adventure film lauded as stone-faced comic moviemaker's masterpiece

PLYMOUTH, N.H.— He never smiled on camera, earning him the nickname of "the Great Stone Face." But Buster Keaton's comedies rocked Hollywood's silent era with laughter throughout the 1920s.

See for yourself with a screening of 'The General' (1926), one of Keaton's landmark feature films, on Wednesday, July 19 at 6:30 p.m. at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center, 39 Main St., Plymouth, N.H.

The screening will feature live music for the movie by silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis. General admission is $10 per person.

The show is the latest in the Flying Monkey's silent film series, which gives audiences the opportunity to experience early cinema as it was intended: on the big screen, with live music, and with an audience.

An 'everything but the kitchen sink' lobby card promoting 'The General.'
 

'The General,' set during the U.S. Civil War, tells the story of a southern locomotive engineer (Keaton) whose engine (named 'The General') is hijacked by Northern spies with his girlfriend on board.

Keaton, commandeering another train, races north in pursuit behind enemy lines. Can he rescue his girl? And can he recapture his locomotive and make it back to warn of a coming Northern attack?

Critics call 'The General' Keaton's masterpiece, praising its authentic period detail, ambitious action and battle sequences, and its overall integration of story, drama, and comedy.

It's also regarded as one of Hollywood's great railroad films, with much of the action occurring on or around moving steam locomotives.

Accompanist Jeff Rapsis will improvise an original musical score for 'The General' live as the movie is shown, as was typically done during the silent film era.

"When the score gets made up on the spot, it creates a special energy that's an important part of the silent film experience," said Rapsis, who uses a digital synthesizer to recreate the texture of a full orchestra for the accompaniment.

 

Keaton on location in Oregon while shooting 'The General.'

With the Flying Monkey's screening of 'The General,' audiences will get a chance to experience silent film as it was meant to be seen—in a high quality print, on a large screen, with live music, and with an audience.

"All those elements are important parts of the silent film experience," Rapsis said. "Recreate those conditions, and the classics of early Hollywood leap back to life in ways that can still move audiences today."

Keaton, along with Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, stands today as one of the silent screen's three great clowns. Some critics regard Keaton as the best of all; Roger Ebert wrote in 2002 that "in an extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929, (Keaton) worked without interruption on a series of films that make him, arguably, the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies."

A remarkable pantomime artist, Keaton naturally used his whole body to communicate emotions from sadness to surprise. And in an era with no post-production special effects, Keaton's acrobatic talents enabled him to perform all his own stunts.

Critics review 'The General':

"The most insistently moving picture ever made, its climax is the most stunning visual event ever arranged for a film comedy."
—Walter Kerr, author of 'The Silent Clowns'

"An almost perfect entertainment!"
—Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

"What makes the film so special is the way the timing, audacity and elegant choreography of its sight gags, acrobatics, pratfalls and dramatic incidents is matched by Buster's directorial artistry, his acute observational skills working alongside the physical élan and sweet subtlety of his own performance."
—Time Out (London)

The Keaton films are a great introduction to silent films for modern audiences, accompanist Rapsis said.

"Keaton's comedy is as fresh today as it was a hundred years ago — maybe more so, because his kind of visual humor is a lost art," Rapsis said.

‘The General’ (1926) starring Buster Keaton will be shown with live music on Wednesday, July 19 at 6:30 p.m. at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center, 39 Main St., Plymouth, N.H.

General admission tickets are $10 at door or in advance by calling the box office at (603) 536-2551 or online at www.flyingmonkeynh.com.