on Fiction University:

You can learn a lot from the classics.

My husband and I are big silent movie fans (well, fans of movies in general, really). But it’s especially interesting to watch movies that are 90 to 100 years old, and even more interesting to see how storytelling hasn’t changed all that much in all those years. What worked back in 1920 still works today.

What’s even more fun, is that the first time many of the classic sight gags were done were in silent movies. These folks created them.

Filmed in 1926, the Buster Keaton film, The General, is an excellent example of tight plotting and storyboarding. Nothing is wasted in this film. If you see a detail on screen, you can be sure it’ll come into play at some point. And the best part? It still surprises you. I can’t tell you how often we laughed over something we should have seen coming.

That’s the secret of great storytelling.

The General is the story of Johnny Gray, a train engineer living in the South during the Civil War (note the oh-so-subtle last name to remind you which side he’s on). He tries to enlist in the army but gets turned down, because he’s more vital to the war effort as an engineer than a soldier.

But he doesn’t know that, so he’s seen by the woman of his dreams (and her family) as a loser. But when a Union plot to steal his beloved train (the General of the title) also kidnaps his love interest, he strikes out to get them both back and save the day.

It’s a hundred years old, but that plot would work in any story or movie today.

Let’s look at a few lessons silent movies can teach us: