Directed by: Edwin S. Porter
Although it is not the first Western film ever made (despite frequent claims to the contrary), it certainly popularized and established the prototypical elements of the genre. The subject of outlaws was not historic for the time: trains were still being robbed by the likes of Butch Cassidy and Kid Curry even months prior to this film’s premiere!
Like most early films, early Westerns were documentary-like vignettes (such as William K. L. Dickson’s Bucking Bronco (1894)). Attempts at narrative came later with the likes of Sagar Mitchell and James Kenyon’s Kidnapping by Indians (1899) – a British film where a group of Native Americans set an encampment on fire and fighting breaks out (though it’s still quite theatrical, consisting of only one shot). With the addition of cinematic techniques established by “chase films” – particularly A Daring Daylight Burglary (1903) and Desperate Poaching Affray (1903) – Edwin S. Porter had all the necessary tools for an exciting project.
One of the strengths of the 12 minute film is that the whole story is conveyed clearly with only the use of visuals. It borrowed two elements from “chase films” – a criminal act followed by pursuit of the perpetrators – and added a new one: the showdown. Unlike the aforementioned two examples, the criminals are not merely arrested but there is a shootout – a back and forth between the forces of good and evil – and lives are lost. It was advised that the end shot of the bandit firing at the camera could be placed at the beginning or end of the film, but all existing prints have it at the end (they must have realized it was a thrilling and exciting note to end the film on). Just like with L’Arrivée d’un train en gare de La Ciotat / Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (1896), there is a cinema myth that some audience members panicked and thought they were being fired at. It is most likely an exaggeration.
The film seamlessly cuts between interior and exterior shots, is credited as featuring an earliest example of cross-cutting (essentially a “meanwhile…”) and contained a panning shot that followed the action of characters. In addition, it made use of special effects: footage of a train superimposed over a window and a substitution splice to create the illusion of a man being thrown off a train. These are arguably very basic components of films today but were an impressive feat for the time.
Since the very beginning of film history, popular films were remade or replicated to cash in on the fad. With the astounding success of The Great Train Robbery, there appeared the likes of: The Bold Bank Robbery (1904), The Great Train Robbery (1904; a near-identical remake by Siegmund Lubin), The Little Train Robbery (1905; a parody of sorts featuring children in the roles) and The Holdup of the Rocky Mountain Express (1906). It’s possible to note how a successful film leads to similar ones being greenlit even today.
(Fun trivia that didn’t fit anywhere else: The Great Train Robbery featured an early example of “bullet dancing” – shooting at someone’s feet to make him dance. This would become a popular trope in Westerns.)
Bibliography
Arnold, J. (2016). ‘The Great Train Robbery (Edison, 1903),’ Jeff Arnold’s West, 28 October. Available at: http://jeffarnoldblog.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-great-train-robbery-edison-1903.html [Accessed: 30 January 2022].
Green, R. (2013). ‘The Great Train Robbery’, The Unwritten Record, 3 December. Available at: https://unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov/2013/12/03/the-great-train-robbery/ [Accessed: 30 January 2022].
IMDb contributors (n.d.). ‘The Great Train Robbery (1903)’, IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0000439/ [Accessed: 30 January 2022].
Massie, M. (n.d.). ‘The Great Train Robbery (1903)’, Gone with the Twins. Available at: https://gonewiththetwins.com/new/great-train-robbery-1903/ [Accessed: 30 January 2022].
Wikipedia contributors (2022). ‘The Great Train Robbery (1903 film)’, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 29 January. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Train_Robbery_(1903_film) [Accessed: 30 January 2022].
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