Accolades for The General

A 2002 world-wide poll by Sight and Sound ranked The General as the 15th best film of all time. Three other Keaton films received votes in the survey: Our Hospitality, Sherlock, Jr., and The Navigator.

In 1989, The General was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." It made it into the registry in the first year it was enacted, going in with such films as The Best Years of Our Lives, Casablanca, Citizen Kane, Gone with the Wind, and Sunset Boulevard.

In a 2002 poll of critics and filmmakers on the best films ever made, critic Roger Ebert listed it in his top ten. It is also on his list of "Great Movies."

In 2000, the American Film Institute issued their list "100 Years...100 Laughs," listing their vote-winners of the 100 funniest feature films of all time. The General ranked at # 18. In 2007, AFI issued a list of "Top 100 Greatest Movies." Curiously, The General posted at # 18 on that list as well.

U.S. film distributors Kino International released the film on Blu-ray Disc in November 2009. This was the first American release of a silent feature film for the High Definition video medium.

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