This .gif is a clip from Buster Keaton’s 1926 film ‘The General’ and is officially the most expensive scene ever filmed during the silent film era. It cost $42,000 at the time, which is the equivalent of $1.7 million today.
The train is real but the conductor (notice a white arm hanging out the window) isn’t (wise move that). Local crowds that had gathered to watch filming had no idea it was part of the script and freaked out as the bridge collapsed under the train.
The wreckage was left in the river bed in Cottage Grove, Oregon and remained something of a tourist attraction for nearly 20 years.
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