Experience Buster Keaton’s beloved silent-film classic The General on the big screen with Carl Davis’s celebrated score, performed live by musicians from Mannes School of Music.

Set during the American Civil War, The General follows railroad engineer Johnnie Gray as he sets out on an extraordinary mission to rescue his beloved locomotive, and the woman he loves. Widely regarded as one of the greatest silent comedies ever made, the film combines Keaton’s signature physical comedy, daring stunts, and inventive visual storytelling.

ABOUT THE (UN)SILENT FILM SERIES

The (Un)Silent Film series has been critical in advancing the resurgence of film screenings with live music and has been hosted by Matthew Broderick, Bill Irwin, Rob Bartlett, Ed Rothstein, and Michael Bacon.

(Un)Silent Film nights have presented world premieres of works composed for The Birds and The Immigrant (by Nathan Kamal and Alexis Cuadrado, respectively), a New York premiere of a score by Hollywood composer Craig Marks for Sherlock, Jr., and Charlie Chaplin’s original scores for The Gold Rush and other Chaplin classics. In Spring 2024, (Un)Silent presented the world premiere of a new score for the iconic film Metropolis, composed by Mannes student Amir Sanjari. In Fall 2024, the acclaimed Philip Glass score for Tod Browning’s 1931 classic Dracula, originally composed for the Kronos Quartet, was performed live to film by the Orange Road Quartet.

The 2025–26 season continued the series’ tradition of pairing classic cinema with live music. (Un)Silent Film presented F.W. Murnau’s 1927 classic Sunrise with a modern score by Joe Kraemer, composer of film scores for The Way of the Gun, Jack Reacher, and Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. The season also featured The Phantom Carriage (1921), directed by and starring Victor Sjöström, with a world-premiere score by Mannes student Amir Sanjari, performed live to film by the Orange Road Quartet.