Every biography of Disney refers to the model train and track that he had built around his home in Hollywood. Not surprisingly, in 1956 he released his version of the Buster Keaton train classic "The General".
This film was based on the true civil war story of Andrews Raiders, 22 union soldiers who attempted to destroy a railway line in Georgia during the Civil War. Keaton's version of the story is a classic. Disney's version isn't up to that standard, but it has many things to recommend it.
The on location filming with actual period trains through rural Georgia is pretty darn cool. The performances are decent and a lot of the shots show them actually riding around on the trains, probably something that you wouldn't see much of today. There must have been a lot of work involved filming the scenes of the trains chasing each other it is impressive. Disney's version of this story doesn't cop out with a happy ending and sticks pretty close to the facts of the story. A good Disney film from of Hollywood's best producers, Walt Disney.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment