Will Pound harmonicas, accordions
Jonny Best piano

The Great Train Robbery (1903, 12 minutes)
The General (1926, 1 hour 20 mins)

Will Pound, one of the finest harmonica players of his generation, joins forces with acclaimed silent film pianist Jonny Best to bring to life a pair of silent cinema’s most famous railway chase movies.

The Great Train Robbery is a twelve-minute escapade which wowed audiences in 1903 and still packs a punch 120 years later.

The General, from 1926, is Buster Keaton’s greatest achievement – both a brilliantly staged Civil War epic and a perfect comedy-thriller. Keaton plays railroad engineer Johnny Gray, who loves his locomotive, The General. When it’s stolen by Yankees, he sets out to get it back and epic, action-packed chase ensues. Based on a true story, The General is packed full of beautiful visual comedy, daring stunts, and nail-biting dramatic tension.

Part of Northern Silents Film Festival