13. Watch all the movies in AFI’s 100 Years 100 Movies list. (46/100)

I watched The General yesterday.  It is a silent film made in 1927.  I haven't been keeping track, but I feel confident saying this is now the oldest movie I have ever seen.  The General stars Buster Keaton as Johnnie Gray, an engineer (which is these circumstances means he drives a train) rejected for enlistment into the Confederate Army.  Of course, this prompts his lady love, Annabelle, to think him a coward and have nothing to do with him unless he returns in uniform.  Through a series of somewhat ridiculous and unfortunate events, Johnnie uses his locomotive to save the woman he loves and defeat the Union Army. 

I was prompted to go ahead and watch this movie because I saw that it will soon be leaving Netflix instant and I didn't want to have to get the dvd later.  It was also short, lasting little more than an hour.  I don't have much to compare it to as far as silent films go.  I recently watched Charlie Chaplin's City Lights and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Although The General was also billed as a comedy, I didn't always find it that funny.  Sometimes it felt like Buster Keaton was trying too hard to be funny.  Perhaps that is just a difference in silent films, where lack of speech requires exaggeration to ensure that the audience understands.