The Great Train Robbery is a 1903 western film by Edwin S. Porter. Twelve minutes long, it is considered a milestone in film making, expanding on Porter’s previous work Life of an American Fireman. The film used a number of innovative techniques including cross cutting, double exposure composite editing, camera movement and on location shooting. Cross-cuts were a new, sophisticated editing technique. Some prints were also hand colored in certain scenes. None of the techniques were original to The Great Train Robbery, and it is now considered that it was heavily influenced by Frank Mottershaw‘s earlier British film A Daring Daylight Burglary. The film uses simple editing techniques (each scene is a single shot) and the story is mostly linear (with only a few “meanwhile” moments), but it represents a significant step in movie making, being one of the first “narrative” movies of significant length. It was quite successful in theaters and was imitated many times.
The movie was directed and photographed by Edwin S. Porter, a former Edison Studios cameraman. Actors in the movie included A. C. Abadie, Broncho Billy Anderson and Justus D. Barnes, although there were no credits. The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
Edison Film Catalogue description
From Edison Films Catalogue, No. 200, Jan. 1904: “This sensational and highly tragic subject will certainly make a decided `hit’ whenever shown. In every respect we consider it absolutely the superior of any moving picture ever made. It has been posed and acted in faithful duplication of the genuine `Hold Ups’ made famous by various outlaw bands in the far West, and only recently the East has been shocked by several crimes of the frontier order, which fact will increase the popular interest in this great Headline Attraction.
Scene 1 — Interior of railroad telegraph office. Two masked robbers enter and compel the operator to set the `signal block’ to stop the approaching train, also making him write a fictitious order to the engineer to take water at this station….
Scene 2 — At the railroad water tank. The bandit band are seen hiding behind the tank as a train stops to take water (according to false order). Just before she pulls out they stealthily board the train between the express car and the tender.
Scene 3 — Interior of express car…. the two robbers have succeeded in effecting an entrance. They enter cautiously. The messenger opens fire on them. A desperate pistol duel takes place, in which the messenger is killed. One of the robbers stands watch while the other tries to open the treasure box. Finding it locked, he searches the messenger for the key. Not finding it, he blows the safe up with dynamite…. [end of part 1]
Scene 4 — The fight on the tender. This thrilling scene was taken from the mail car showing the tender and interior of locomotive cab, while the train is running forty miles an hour….
Scene 5 — The train uncoupled….
Scene 6 — Exterior of passenger coaches. The bandits compel the passengers to leave coaches with hands aloft, and line up along the tracks. One of the robbers covers them with large pistols in either hand, while the others ransack travelers’ pockets. A passenger makes an attempt to escape, but is instantly shot down….
Scene 7 — The escape. The desperadoes board the locomotive with their booty, command the engineer to start his machine, and disappear in the distance.
Scene 8 — Off to the mountains. The robbers bring the engine to a stop several miles from the scene of the `Hold Up,’ and take to the mountains. [end of part 2]
Scene 9 — A beautiful scene in a valley. The bandits come down the side of a hill on a run and cross a narrow stream. Mounting their horses, which were tied to nearby trees, they vanish into the wilderness.
Scene 10 — Interior of telegraph office. The operator lies bound and gagged on the floor. After a desperate struggle, he succeeds in standing up. Leaning on the table, he telegraphs for assistance by manipulating the key with his chin, and then faints from exhaustion. His little daughter enters…. cuts the ropes, and, throwing a glass of water in his face, restores him to consciousness. Arising in a bewildered manner, he suddenly recalls his thrilling experience, and rushes forth to summon assistance.
Scene 11 — Interior of a dance hall…. typical Western dance house scene…. Suddenly the door opens and the half dead telegraph operator staggers in. The crowd gathers around him, while he relates what has happened…. The men secure their guns and hastily leave in pursuit of the outlaws.
Scene 12 — The posse in pursuit. Shows the robbers dashing down a rugged mountain at a terrible pace, followed closely by a large posse, both parties firing as they proceed. One of the desperadoes is shot….
Scene 13 — The remaining three bandits, thinking they had eluded their pursuers, have dismounted from their horses…. [and] begin to examine the contents of the mail bags…. The pursuers, having left their horses, steal noiselessly down upon them until they are completely surrounded. A desperate battle then takes place. After a brave stand, all of the robbers and several of the posse bite the dust.
Scene 14 — Realism. Full frame of Barnes, leader of the outlaw band, taking aim and firing point blank at the audience. (This effect was gained by foreshortening in making the picture). “The resulting excitement is great. This section of the scene can be used either to begin the subject or to end it, as the operator may choose.”
Trivia
- Though a western, the movie was filmed in New Jersey.
- The film was originally distributed with a note saying that the famous shot of the bandit firing his gun at the camera could be placed either at the beginning or at the end of the film, or both. Most modern prints put it at the end. Audiences at the time, for whom moving pictures were still very new and unfathomable, would usually scream in fear, then laugh in relief.
- Edison also made a parody of The Great Train Robbery (The Little Train Robbery (1905)) with an all-child cast in which a larger gang of bandits holds up a mini train and steal their dolls and candy.
- The final shot is homaged in Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas when Joe Pesci’s character fires a gun into the camera (and at the audience) at the end of the movie.
- The .45 Long colt shot clip appears in the historical introduction to the film Tombstone.
