Films Directed by Clyde Bruckman (Study Guide) - The General, Man on the Flying Trapeze, Feet First, Horses' Collars, Movie Crazy (Paperback)

This is nonfiction commentary. Chapters: The General, Man on the Flying Trapeze, Feet First, Horses' Collars, Movie Crazy, the Fatal Glass of Beer. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 28. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The General is a 1927 American silent comedy film released by United Artists based upon the Great Locomotive Chase from 1862. Buster Keaton starred in the film and co-directed it with Clyde Bruckman. It was adapted by Al Boasberg, Bruckman, Keaton, Charles Henry Smith (uncredited) and Paul Girard Smith (uncredited) from the memoir The Great Locomotive Chase by William Pittenger. The film was a box-office disaster at its original release, but is now considered by critics as one of the greatest films ever made. Buster Keaton plays Johnnie Gray, a locomotive engineer. He returns to his hometown in Confederate Georgia to visit his fiance Annabelle Lee when the American Civil War breaks out. Her brother and father rush to sign up and she tells Johnny she could only love him if he joins. As many men in his town rush to sign up for the army, he hurries to be first in line. Getting to the head of the queue, he is turned down by the army because he is too valuable as an engineer. On leaving, he comes across Annabelle's father and brother, who beckon to him to join the line, but he sadly dismisses them and walks on. This is misinterpreted by the father as an act of cowardice and he tells Annabelle of this. Annabelle coldly informs Johnnie that he had better get in uniform if he ever wants to speak to her again, then walks away. A year passes, and Annabelle receives word that her father was wounded. She travels northward to find him, but the train she is traveling on, coincidentally driven by Johnnie on his locomotive "The General" (hence the name of the film), is hijacked by Union spi...http: //booksllc.net/?id=68388