The General

Video Browse Photos Upcoming Shows Logistics Booking

Concert Trailer

New amazing 2K restoration of the original 1926 film!

Newly composed score by Emmy-winning composer

Jeff Beal (Netflix®’s House of Cards)

From Academy Honorary Award®-winning director Buster Keaton, revisit the film that writer, actor and director extraordinaire Orson Welles called “the greatest comedy ever made, the greatest Civil War film ever made, and perhaps the greatest film ever made.” Experience The General in a film with live orchestra concert, with a new original film score by multi-Emmy Award-winning composer, Jeff Beal.

First released as a silent comedy in 1926, The General follows young Johnny Gray (Buster Keaton) who, rejected by the Confederate army and taken for a coward by his fiancée Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack), is given a chance to redeem himself when Yankee spies steal his cherished locomotive. Johnny wages a one-man war against hijackers, an errant cannon and the unpredictable hand of fate, all while roaring along the iron rails.

Beal’s original score is available in two editions: for full orchestra and for chamber orchestra (see Logistics below for the instrumentation). The General in Concert comes with the restored film, complete score and parts, and a preview film programmed with punches and streamers for the conductor. Beal can be engaged separately to conduct.

The restored 2K version of the film is under license from Kino Lorber. The music for this production is published by St. Rose Music and administered by AMP, part of the Wise Music Group.