Buffalo Film Seminars @ Market Arcade, Tuesday, 1/16/07
Bruce Jackson and Diane Christian are taking the Buffalo Film Seminar into its 14th season season. The Film Seminar is a class at the University at Buffalo screened at the downtown Market Arcade Cinemas, giving students a full-scale experience, and general audience members an education in classic and modern cinema.
The shows run every Tuesday for about 14 weeks, and include an introductory lecture and extensive historical notes. This week's feature is The General, starring Buster Keaton. The plot involves Keaton as Johnnie, a rail engineer with two loves: his train ("The General") and Annabelle Lee. When the Civil War begins he is turned down for service because he's more valuable in service as an engineer. Annabelle thinks it's because he's a coward. Union spies capture The General with Annabelle on board, and Johnny must rescue both his loves.
Keaton stated frequently that this was his favorite film, which is based on a true incident during the Civil War. A group of Union spies, both soldiers and civilians, stole a Confederate train, the General, in hopes of disrupting Confederate rail lines. As in the film, the conductor of the train ended up chasing after the train thieves on foot. His signature physical comedy remains a high mark in cinema, using film's visual storytelling ability at its highest level.
Bruce and Diane’s engaging introductory lectures and thorough "goldenrod" notes will tell you much of detail behind the film, giving an insightful education that’s truly hard to come by. One example; The scene in which The Texas crashes through the bridge was the single most expensive shot of the entire silent movie era. The Texas itself remained in the river until WWII, when it was salvaged for scrap iron.
Market Arcade Cinema, 639 Main Street, Buffalo, 14203, Box Office 716.855.3022, $7, 1/16/07, 7 PM.