'The Great Train Robbery' (Edwin S. Porter, 1903)

Title: 'The Great Train Robbery'

Release Year: 1903

Director: Edwin S. Porter

Cast: Justus D. Barnes, Broncho Billy Anderson, Alfred C. Abadie.

Plot: As the title says, the movie describes a train robbery performed by an outlaw band and its later capture.

Review: As it happened with George Méliès movie ('Le Voyage dans la Lune'), this is a short. The last one I'll review one, but this time an American one.

Actually, Porter was partly inspired by Méliès work in terms of length and film continuity, an aspect in which he -among other filmmakers of that age- deepened in 'The Great Train Robbery'.

Moreover, the film also used a series of innovative movie techniques which made of it an outstanding achievement at that time: cross-cutting between scenes, more complex editing or camera movement between others. It also had hand-coloured parts (although, in my opinion, it's quite poorly done).

In terms of my personal opinion it's really hard to say when a movie doesn't last more than 10 minutes, but as always, I appreciate Porter's efforts to explain a consistent and logically structured story and although it can't really be said it's an entertaining one, that effort can't be denied.

The film famous final shot where the leader of the band shots directly at the screen, causing a major impact in the viewers