If you loved To Be or Not to Be, try The General

A bridge between a film you've already seen and one most people haven't. Here's what they share, and what the second one does that the first one doesn't.

You already loved

To Be or Not to Be

1942 · dir. Ernst Lubitsch

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The General

1926 · dir. Buster Keaton, Clyde Bruckman

What they share

Theyboth carry the playful mood tag, and they sit in Comedy / Romance / War territory. If that's the register that drew you to To Be or Not to Be, the second film will land in a comparable space — through a different lens.

playful

What The General is

Here's a movie that knows exactly what it is and does not care what you think. A Confederate train engineer pursues Union spies who have stolen his locomotive and, purely coincidentally, his girl. It is difficult to imagine a better silent film about trains, or a more earnest one.

If you loved To Be or Not to Be, try The General

To Be or Not to Be

The General

What they share

What The General is

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