The General (1926) 4K UHD Review

“It’s hard to think of another film so stupidly risky, utterly daring, and magnificent as this. The General’s finale blows up an entire bridge, taking a steam engine with it. Keaton casually saunters out in front of an oncoming locomotive to pry a board from the tracks. Entire train cars go sailing from their tracks. Cannonballs go astray. There’s not a single visual effects shot. They just did it. Live. That’s pioneering cinema…”

Read our full review of Cohen Media’s The General Blu-ray for more.

A good chunk of silent cinema is lost, but I’m giddy that The General not only survived, but survived to look this good. We’re spoiled. So, so spoiled. This is a near spotless 1926 silent film print. It’s not just stable, but imperfection free.

There’s a touch of digital tooling at work here, but just a necessary touch. The few lapses in grain structure were undoubtedly needed to restore this print to its current condition. That condition is marvelous. A 4K scan brings out gobs of definition and detail captured on the original stock. It’s sharp, and the clarity is unheard of. Rivets on the trains, stitching on the uniforms, and the generous environments are all impeccable. Eureka’s compression handles the grain without losing its natural grit.

Dolby Vision presents a gray scale that’s nothing less than perfect. Shadows carry weight, the contrast is rich (but respectably accentuated), with perfectly resolved gradients in-between. These are often words that come back to haunt someone, but it’s hard to believe The General will ever look better in the future.

Scoring comes courtesy of Carl Davis, offered in DTS-HD, primarily focused on the stereo channels. Being modern, the recording suffers no fidelity concerns. A soft low-end jumps out as needed.

Historian David Kalat provides a fresh commentary, while author Imogen Sara Smith pens a new video essay. Scholar Peter Kramer chats about The General in an interview. Vintage introductions from Orson Welles and Gloria Swanson are wonderful, with a location tour and home videos from the set (one minute worth) left.