2 - The great train robbery

Been a long time, but here's number 2.

Title: The great train robbery
Instructor: Edwin S. Porter
Year: 1903, although my book says 1902
Runtime (My version): 11:51

Seen: Christmas 2008

How i got this: I believe that this too is an abandoned movie. Meaning noone has the copyrights for it. I got my copy using a torrent.

Plot Outline: A band of men hijacks and robs a train, passengers included, and flees the crime scene, only to have the local authorities chase after them.

First impression: I loved westerns as a kid, this is going to be great.
But on second thought: This does not feel like a western to me. Nor does it feel like a movie.

General comments: Okay, so in this movie we have bad-guys as we know them from westerns. They rob and kill, and have a cunning plan. This is ok, no more. I have a hard time seeing why this movie could be ground-breaking, as the plot is simple, but unexplained, and it can be hard to get what actually is going on. I know how this sounds, but try seeing the movie, then reading the explanation of what is going on, and see what i mean.

The camera-angles are quite stationary, and the film seems less dynamic because of that. However, there is one scene that is shot atop a moving train, which must have been quite a feat back then.

Additionally, the setting isn't actually what i would call western-like. This is not a good thing, especially when this according to the book is supposed to be the mother of all westerns.

As for the ending scene; whats the big deal? Nothing in the movie makes this ending scene relate to the rest of the movie as I see it, and therefore it loses impact.

Music: No music in my version.

Pictures: Quite dull really, simple shots, except for the atop-a-train scene.

Essentially this is: A pseudowestern, that albeit short and simple manages to be confusing.

Why you should see this: This is the first western, that has to mean something, to someone...
Why you shouldn't see this: It really is no big movie, in any way.

Honorable mention: The dancing man in the saloon.

Final rating: 46/100% - The way I see it, this could have been done way better even in 1902.