Search - The Buster Keaton: The General/Steamboat Bill Jr. on DVD

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 2/4/2024...

The General - Black and White Silent movie classics for those who like those. The rest of us only have a certain level of pain tolerance of watching these.

The General/Steamboat Bill Jr.

Alex Beard | North Carolina, USA | 07/09/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I assume if you're looking at this, you already know about the films and their production, star, etc. In short, Keaton is hilarious!!!
I bought this to see what was on it since there weren't any reviews.
This is a release by Movie Ventures. It's a double-sided disc with one of the films on each side. There is no inside case insert. The transfer is fairly good. Some sound effects have been added (such as guns and cannons firing), and others have been incorporated into the music (such as the trains' distinctive sound, as well as their speeding up and slowing down, and people falling).
The music itself is not 1920s music at all. It's all synthesized, and most of the train stuff is "drumset" (etc.) material. It definately sounds like MIDI. It's all very well synchronized with what's happening on the screen, but I don't think it does anything to make the film better. I was expecting old jazz on solo piano etc.
The case says that "Steamboat Bill Jr." runs 111 minutes, but it's actually only 79 minutes (or 1 hour and 9 minutes). I don't know what's up with that. It doesn't say "The End" or anything.
Despite the musical shortcoming, this is definately worth the $3.30 that I paid for it!
God bless,
Alex"