The Great Locomotive Chase
Directed by Francis D. Lyon
Written by Lawrence Edward Watkin
1956/USA
Walt Disney Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental
James J. Andrews: I went through pretty far tonight. Let me tell you this: If you can’t drink their toasts and sing their songs, love Jeff Davis and hate Abe Lincoln by next Friday, you’ll never reach Marietta.
This is Disney’s live-action version of Buster Keaton’s The General, told from the perspective of the Union spies who stole Buster’s train. It’s an OK way to spend an hour and a half – perhaps better than OK if you are a train buff.
The film is bookended by a ceremony presenting the very first Congressional Medal of Honor to Union soldiers who participated in an effort to steal a train in Tennessee and use it to blow up bridges and destroy railroad track in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. In the ceremony, Secretary of State Stanton states that these men helped quicken the end of the war.
James J. Andrews (Fess Parker) hails from Kentucky and is a civilian spy for the Union. His Southern accent and demeanor blends easily with supporters of the Confederacy. He recruits a bunch of soldiers for his plot to steal “The General”. Andrews pretends to be a railroad executive and the other men board with tickets to different destinations. Conductor William A. Fuller (Jeffrey Hunter) is suspicious however.
The men are steal “The General” at a stop for breakfast. They proceed to cut telephone lines and dig up rails en route to the Chickamauga River where they plan to burn bridges, preventing Confederate forces near Atlanta from reinforcing their comrades in the west. Soon enough Fuller and some volunteers are on their trail, at first in a hand-car and later in a steam engine’s cab. Will they catch the Union spies? The movie ends with a strong message of reconciliation.
I like Fess Parker’s rugged good looks but I find him a pretty wooden actor. He is good at being upright, however. The movie is serious and moderately exciting, certainly no match for Keaton’s masterpiece.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epp9r-JjYvs
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