The Great Train Robbery Blog

Film Blog 1- The Great Train Robbery

            “The Great Train Robbery” is a silent film released in 1904 by director Edwin Stanton Porter. This is a silent film that is twelve minutes in length, and utilized many new techniques in the early art of film.

            Edwin Stanton Porter, a pioneer of early film and a director with Thomas Edison’s company had developed a number of different short films prior to “The Great Train Robbery,” yet this film is so renowned and remains a classic to this day due to the number of different technological breakthroughs and dramatic adaptations that had not yet been witnessed by a regular audience.

            The film, at twelve minutes long in running time was shot on twenty separate shots on a single reel. The film utilized the revolutionary technique of “cross-cutting” in its production, which allotted for the addition of as many as ten separate indoor and outdoor scenes and the ability to show simultaneous action at several different locations.

            Aside from the technological advancements illustrated in “The Great Train Robbery,” this film was the first to depict Western civilization in this context. Never before had an audience had the opportunity to see what we now all know and love as “The Wild West.” This new addition to the story combined with the advancements in technology never before seen in any film are what made this film both immediately and immensely popular in America.

            This film was the first one of its time period to have the flow and storytelling that it had. Prior to “The Great Train Robbery,” most films were still in their earliest, experimental stage where the primary goal was not necessarily to tell a story, but to simply let people awe in the wonder of technology that was film. This is why previously many films were simply “Man Sneezing” or “Man Running” or simplistic ideas of similarly moderate magnitude. People were satisfied with simply witnessing something they had not before.

            “The Great Train Robbery” was the first film to combine the element of amazement prevalent in the earliest films with a new, exciting storyline. And in addition to the storyline, this film offered a completely new outlook on the American West, along with new special effects that had never been released in any film previously. These new adaptations in film were absolutely groundbreaking and “The Great Train Robbery” had automatically set a completely new standard for filmmakers.

            Prior to “The Great Train Robbery,” film was more of an idea than a form of entertainment. People were curious about it, and amazed by its potential. Not until the release of this film was there any set expectation about what a “good” or “bad” film consists of, because the entire art form was still very much in the experimental and developmental stages. It is often attested that “The Great Train Robbery,” due to its innovation and immediate success, singlehandedly established motion pictures as a form of commercial entertainment in the United States. The combination of innovation, technology, storyline, and simply being the first to do what it did, are what make “The Great Train Robbery” by Edwin Porter very much a classic.