The Great Train Robbery (1903)'s comments

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Wise Jake

Cool movie. This and A Trip to the Moon are good introductions to the earlier, simpler days of cinema before Griffith modernized it with all of his 'advanced techniques' and 'art.' Not that those are bad things ... but it's interesting to see narratives and creative ideas coming into films.

14 years ago

albajos

Remember to check the runtime when seeing this. There is a few too short versions.

7 years ago

MovieDearest

Also available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc7wWOmEGGY

14 years ago

kiyobean

It's hard to judge fairly a film that is over 110 years old. But I'm sorry, it was dull. There are a couple of technical innovations, such as the shot on top of a moving train, and what I believe is the first ever camera pan, but narrative-wise it's poor compared to the films that Georges Méliès had already been making for a few years.

On a side note, I was surprised to find that the very famous shot of the man firing a gun into the camera was right at the end of the film, with no context at all. An early ancestor of the Family Guy cut-away gag, perhaps? :p

In conclusion, if you're going to watch an ancient movie, I would recommend that you watch Voyage dans la Lune instead. At least that one is kind of entertaining.

8 years 12 months ago

nicolino

wow this was an outstanding piece of pioneer cinema. Strongly recommended!

11 years 5 months ago

Siskoid

Almost 10 years after La Ciotat, Thomas Edison produced another train movie that would enter the history books - The Great Train Robbery. What strikes me about this short is how violent it is. It's a good thing the dummy that gets thrown off the train is so unconvincing, because its murder seconds before is shocking. The famous shot of the outlaw firing into the audience (a separate reel that could have been show before or after the picture, according to projectionist instructions) is a good meta moment by itself, but pretty much disconnected from the narrative itself. It's a trick, a gimmick, a 2-second short film that doesn't really fit the rest.

5 years 4 months ago

chunkylefunga

I agree with kiyobean, whilst this movie is 112 years old and technical great for the time, it is rather dull.

Voyage dans la Lune is twice as good so I'd recommend that instead.

8 years 8 months ago