Buster Keaton's The General (1926) at the Grays Armory Museum, with original score performed live by Donnie Rankin on the Mighty Wurlitzer!

A critical failure on its original release, The General is now regarded as one of Buster Keaton’s greatest films. The story is based on actual events during the Civil War, in which Union soldiers commandeered a train called “The General.” In a now controversial decision, Keaton’s version has a Confederate protagonist because he reasoned that it would be harder for Southern audiences to root for the side that had won the war. The film’s narrative is structured around two elaborate locomotive chases that include some of Keaton’s most daring and famous stuntwork including, most famously, an actual train plummeting from a collapsing bridge into a gorge. This special showing at the Cleveland Grays Armory will feature a live score by theater organist Donnie Rankin, performing on the Armory’s historic Wurlitzer, originally housed at Erie’s Warner Theater.