Craziest Silent Movie Stunts With Trains

In silent movies, train stunts sold tickets!

Many silent movies had stunts, but the train was always the main one. Buster Keaton was the father of all stunts with trains.

In his 1926 film, The General, Buster Keaton performed all of his own stunts. No stunt doubles in those days! As with other actors of that time, filming was dangerous work for anyone.

The bridge collapse in The General was considered the most expensive single shot in silent film history, coming in at an expensive of $42,000. In todays dollars, accounting for inflation, that would equal over $600,000! The bridge was built for just one scene as were many of the sets used!

Most of the scenes were built one one take obviously, but the props were all real. There were no green screens, no special effects and no second takes!

These folks were truly the pioneers of cinema.