Buster Keaton is generally known for his comedy forays in the silent era, but this movie is a hybrid romance, comedy, and action movie. The plot is merely a vessel for the action and stunts, and for a movie that came out in 1926, I was impressed.<br /><br />In what was apparently real stunts, I watched Keaton jump from trains and inflict pain on the North. It's an interesting commentary too, on films from the South. With the film being in black and white, Union soldiers symbolically come out looking as the villains with their navy blue uniforms appearing black. The opposite is true as well, as the South's gray uniforms look white on the film stock, giving them an aura of righteousness.<br /><br />It was also an interesting theme that Keaton got all of his motivation from the girl that wanted him to enlist, and all his inspiration from his other love, The General. Both helped him mold himself into a soldier, and by the end it was all tied up with a nice bow. An enjoyable hour-and-a-half