The General

"Image Entertainment teams up with Kino Video to present the DVD for one of the greatest comedies, The General, starring the stone-faced Buster Keaton. Presented in its original full-frame aspect ratio, the image shows its age, and really could use more restoration. The black-and-white photography shows all the blemishes, scratches, and dust, which is a shame considering this is such an acclaimed title. The sound, which consists of an orchestrated score, is entirely adequate with a mono soundtrack split over two channels. As for extras, as is often the case with Image, there isn't much. A real plus though, in place of any addition supplements, are two short films starring Keaton, The Playhouse, which runs 23 minutes, and the highly amusing Cops, at a brisk 18 minutes long. Though overall the disc doesn't amount to much, there is no question of the importance of this film. Therefore, until a better DVD comes along (if that ever happens), this might just be as good of a treatment this film will get."