Plaza Days II: The General

Based on a true Civil War story about a harrowing train chase, co-director and silent movie star Buster Keaton changed the heroes from Union to Confederate soldiers when he adapted the story with collaborator and co-director Clyde Bruckman. Like the D. W. Griffith film that inspired them, Keaton and Bruckman presented a sanitized version of the South that attributed noble, if inaccurate, motivations for the Confederate Army going to war. A disappointment to audiences and critics at its opening, the now 100-year-old film was one of the last over which Keaton had major creative control. Since that time, it’s been lauded for its technical achievements and is considered an exceptional example of silent film form. It was the first silent film featured in the Plaza Classic in 2010. Walt Strony, who accompanied it then, will play along again on the Plaza Theatre’s original Wyler Mighty Wurlitzer Pipe Organ. — Katia Krassin