The Great Train Robbery

Option 1 - The Great Train Robbery.

The Great Train Robbery was released in 1903 and was a film without sound. It was directed and written by Edwin S. Porter. The characters in this film are the four bandits who hijack the train. They are John Manus Doughrety Sr., Gilbert M. Anderson, Justus D. Barnes, and Frank Hanaway. These four men hijacked the train and had it stopped down the tracks where they made all the passengers get out of the train. The bandits took money and valuables from the passengers. One passenger tried to escape and was shot by the bandit played by Gilbert M. Anderson. The four bandits then left with just the front car of the train. A little girl discovers that the clerk at the station is tied up and notifies the sheriff. The bandits escaped to there horses and rode off being chased by the sheriff and his men who catch up to them. The sheriff caught the robbers and shot them as they were trying to get away. That was the end of the film it only lasted twelve minutes. Since the film did not have any sound or speaking the actors over acted what they were trying tell the audience. In a film with sound the actors do not have to over exaggerate their actions to get the point across, they can do it with their words. The film ends by the four robbers being shot and stopped. I do not think that this ending is a happy ending but it was good that the robbers did not get away with the passengers money. Also at the very end of the movie a man shot right at the camera to end the film. In 1903 I bet this scared the audience a little since they never had seen anything like that. Over all the film was edited good to make all the scenes fit together. In those day they did not have the technology to do what they do now but the film was still edited well.