The General (CIA Cinematheque)

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Tonight the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque takes its show on the road—to the restored Capitol Theatre in the Gordon Square Arts District at the corner of W. 65th Street and Detroit Avenue on Cleveland's West Side. This newly reopened historic theatre, converted into a triplex with all-digital projection, will be a good place to watch a new, HD digital restoration of Buster Keaton's great Civil War comedy on the big screen. (It's the first American silent film to be released on Blu-ray.) The restoration was mastered from an archive print struck from the original camera negative and enhanced with new color tinting and an orchestral score. Technical talk aside, The General is one of the funniest and most amazing movies of all time. (The Time Out Film Guide calls it "arguably the greatest screen comedy ever made.") Keaton plays a Southern train engineer who crosses enemy lines to retrieve a steam locomotive (a real steam locomotive—no CGI here) stolen by Yankee spies and then drive it back to the Confederacy, with Union soldiers in hot pursuit. Unmissable! Cleveland revival premiere. Silent with recorded music.