The Great Train Robbery (1903)
Edwin S. Porter directed The Great Train Robbery, a 1903 American silent film, of 12-minute long, made for the Edison Manufacturing Company.
It follows a gang of outlaws who hold up and rob a steam locomotive at a station in the American West, flee across mountainous terrain, and are finally defeated by a posse of locals.
The short film draws on many sources, including a robust existing tradition of Western films, recent European innovations in film technique, the play of the same name by Scott Marble, the popularity of train-themed films, and incidents involving outlaws such as Butch Cassidy.
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Promotional leaflet for the film
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Porter supervised and photographed the film in New York and New Jersey in November 1903; the Edison studio sold it to vaudeville houses and other venues in the following month.
The cast included Justus D. Barnes and G. M. Anderson.
Porter’s storytelling, though not particularly innovative or unusual for 1903, included many popular techniques, including scenes staged in wide shots, a matte effect, and an attempt to indicate simultaneous action across multiple scenes.
Camera pans, location shooting, and moments of violent action helped give The Great Train Robbery a sense of rough-edged immediacy.
A close-up shot, which was unconnected to the story and could either begin or end the film depending on the projectionist’s whim, showed Barnes, as the outlaw leader, emptying his gun directly into the camera.
Due in part to its popular and accessible subject, as well as dynamic action and violence, The Great Train Robbery was an unprecedented commercial success.
Though it did not significantly influence or advance the Western genre, it was widely distributed and copied, including in a parody by Porter himself.
Film scholars have disproved Inaccurate legends about The Great Train Robbery, claiming it was the first Western or even the first film to tell a story. They demonstrated that The Great Train Robbery was a stylistic dead-end for its maker and genre.
Nonetheless, its commercial success and mythic place in American film lore have remained undisputed.
The film, especially the close-up of Barnes, has become iconic in American culture, appearing in numerous film and TV references and homages.
In 1990, The Great Train Robbery was selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
Credits:
Directed by Edwin S. Porter, based on The Great Train Robbery by Scott Marble
Cinematography Edwin S. Porter. J. Blair Smith
Distributed by Edison Manufacturing Company
Release date: December 1903
Running time: 740 ft (230 m); 12 minutes (at 18 frame/s)
