Fair enough.
I’m no fan of the old classic movies from the 50s,60s, etc.
1980s and 1990s films are my thing.
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Here’s a colorized version, with higher resolution.
There’s certainly a share of hokiness in the subplots, and more than a dash of the Lost Cause mythology and tropes that were still familiar from the success of Birth of a Nation (which is a movie I have not been able to watch all the way through).
But even in the version I saw in high school, in the old flickering 16mm (which at least didn’t have the 3:2 pulldown jerkiness of televised 24fps film) there were enough good train shots to be interesting…
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My mother (who grew up in a movie theatre in Brooklyn in the 1930s) dragged us all to see “The General” in a theatre when I was about 10 years old. Silent? Black and White? Man, I fell in love with silents and B & W films then and there and still love them.
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Needless to say I can’t explain Busters mindset in making the film but I will point out the film was made in 1921, that’s 60 years after the start of the Civil War. Just to put that in perspective the Vietnam War began in earnest in 1965, 60 years ago! Shocking, huh? My point being the Civil War was still in living memory for a lot of Americans.
Buster was born in Kansas to a vaudeville family and as such he traveled the circuit all over the country and meeting all kinds of people, Northerners, Southerners, Yankees, Midwestern and Western folks, you get the picture. He got to see the country growing up as few of his time would so I can’t help but think he felt a little sympathy for the defeated South. He certainly wouldn’t have wanted to offend that potential market for his film!
I may be overthinking this but after all it’s a comedy based on a true event. Maybe the first of what we’d call a "dramedy?’
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You probably feel as I do, motion picture black and white photography is getting to be a lost art, if it isn’t one already. Now when I watch an old B&W movie I WATCH it and marvel at the photographic techniques involved, all of them! Incredible!
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I’m sure you have seen the Howard Hawks classic, “Red River.” Perfect story and perfect to look at; the cinematography is amazing! I just watched it last night for about the 4th time.
It’s been a sort of fantasy of mine to build an HO scale layout and set it in Southern California in the 1940s along the Santa Fe line and Route 66. But, it would all be in shades of gray, equipment, buildings and landscaping replicating a B & W film. I wonder if that would even be possible but it’s something that does appeal to me.
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CCDs in modern video cameras are inherently monochrome devices; you have to equip them with filters to capture ‘color’ images. It should be very easy to get high-resolution B&W and to shift the image stream to create effects of darkroom manipulation or to simulate classic film ‘look’. Naturally HDR techniques work for grayscale as well as color.
I would be tempted to work with a platinotype effect, high resolution and silver gray, rather than a gritty ‘noir’ look.
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I probably could be. It would take some experimentation to get the various shades of gray in the right proportions. Overhead lighting would require some trial and error as well
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Not a silent movie, but can you guess what the actual colors of the costumes were looking at this photo from the 1949 Batman and Robin serials?
Batman’s costume was black and light gray. But Robin’s used shades of brown and green to make them appear to be red and green on film.
Also take a look at Brigitte Helm from Metropolis 1927. Note how extreme the makeup was for this scene of the “machine man” taking on the outer appearance of Marta.
And here she is without makeup inside the silver machine man costume which was made from an early type of plastic wood.
Also, the Keno DVD I have of Metropolis, the only version worth owning, mentions how the premier of the film was done. The actors appeared on stage below the screen and delivered their lines to the audience live. Also, a full musical score was written and the orchestra played live in the Berlin theater that had been completely transformed into the film’s motif. That sheet music and copies of the script went to every theater showing the film so local actors and musicians could perform it for the audiences. Those are things about silent movies that aren’t well known these days. PS Metropolis was the first black and white film produced in Germany. The majority of films prior to this had been hand tinted.
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My second favorite silent movie:
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Several of Andrew’s Raiders were from Hancock County here in Ohio. Some are buried in McComb, Ohio, and a Medal of Honor is displayed at the public library there.
At one time, I had a copy of the Wm. Pittenger book but somehow lost it. 
I have no idea where it could have gone to but I keep looking… and hoping…
dlm
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There’s a copy of Daring and Suffering on ThriftBooks right now for $7.79…
There are a couple of cheaper ones at AbeBooks with free freight.
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I think Brigitte looks a LOT better with no makeup but then the whole idea of that extreme makeup was to make her look weird anyway.
And in photo #2 isn’t it amazing how little the look of hair dryers has changed in 100 years?
I’m assuming the heat’s turned off and it’s being used to blow cool air into the suit. And believe it or not 56 years later they used hair dryers with the heat turned off to ventilate the Gammorean Guard suits between takes in the third Star Wars film “Return Of The Jedi!” Hey, whatever works, right?
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A shout-out to Ken_Vandevoort: Many thanks for your recommending Stealing the General by Bonds. I found a first-rate, hardback copy on line for about $7.00; it arrived yesterday and I’m very impressed with it. It’s that rare combination of a topic that’s fascinating to me and reads like literature. Bonds’ research is amazing and he can really turn a phrase.