Admission: 50 cents

The General is both a dramatic comedy and an authentic-looking period drama. It is a Civil War story about a small band of Union raiders who penetrate 300 miles behind Confederate lines, steal a locomotive and run it back to a Yankee outpost. Engineer Johnnie Gray (Keaton), although rejected by the Confederate Army, sets out in pursuit, recaptures it and heads back for his own lines. The title refers not to Keaton's character, but to his engine, “The General.” Keaton shot the film on the narrow-gauge railways of Oregon and used less than 50 titles to explain the story. The General was recently selected as the “Second Greatest Comedy of All Time” in an international poll.