Keaton's "The General" and Running Time Differences

[misteranalog]

I noticed that there are a number of different versions of Keaton's "The General"
There are major differences in their running times.
IMDB says that the running time is 107 minutes http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017925/" target="_blank
Wikipedia says that the running time is 78 minutes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Genera ... 26_film%29" target="_blank
Are the differences in running time due to differences in frames per second??

[silentfilm]

Well the Kino BluRay runs 78 minutes and probably was transferred at about 24 fps. I'm now aware of any scenes cut for re-issue. (There were certainly scenes filmed but cut before the original release. I have a still of one of them.) The longer version that you cite would certainly be dreadfully dull at the slower frame rate.

[the mark of zorro]

It is quite true that the difference in time is more than likely due to speed. I used to have "The General" on VHS from "The Golden Age of Silent Films" set. When I upgraded by purchasing the Kino version, I was baffled as to why the better version would be listed as being significantly shorter. One afternoon, a few years ago, I decided to play the VHS and DVD versions scene by scene to compare and detect any differences. To me they seemed to be precisely the same in every way. Of course the Kino version was much cleaner. But the long VHS version had no additional footage over the short Kino DVD.

[azjazzman]

That running time must have been taken from a Video Yesteryear "Accu-Speed" videotape. The AFI catalog lists "The General" at 7500 feet, and there is documentation that the film was intended to be run at slightly faster than 24 fps, so you do the math. (24 fps = 90 feet per minute).

[DShepFilm]

The first Kino edition and the Image edition with the Alloy Orchestra score are at 26 fps, as specified on the cue sheet.

David Shepard

[Rodney]

Actually, I think most versions of The General out there are at 26 fps. I don't know about what speed was used for the Carl Davis score, though. There was one source for 16mm films that had slightly different continuity (as we know to our cost, one of the missing snippets is one of our screen cues), but not different enough to make a measurable change in the length of the film.

We've also come across a 35mm print where most of the opening titles are excised, which removes maybe a minute or less.

[Robert Moulton]

I once saw a Rohauer version that had subtitles replacing the intertitles. Yeech! However not as bad as a version of The Navigator I saw in a theatre projected at 1.85:1, heads and feet all missing.

Thanks Ray!