The Great Train Robbery (1903)

Too much of everything

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Captivating movie !

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The titles are the same as the content for sure but Crichton was set in Victorian Britain in 1864 while here it's America! It's amazing how baby cinema had already create his own visual langage and in less than 10 years: the movie is dynamic, the angle are inspired (it's nearly VR on the top of the train) and maybe the difference with BTF3 or Indy 3 is only the issue of sound and score! For sure i waited the moment when those bandits would be caught because i couldn't imagine a Doberman movie at this time! Moral is safe! The final shot of this bandit shooting the audience at close range is fantastic because it embodies truly what is cinema: a virtual reality filling you with emotions ranging from all the spectre, good to bad! Sure, the action is crude, limited but it's like videogames: the first games invented everything and today games are just the old games done with better technology! At last, with this movie, i finally reach my destination also because i have now watched 1 movie by year between cinema birth and mine! I really expected that this earlier movies would be boring but they surprise me to be as good (or even better) than today ones and with as talented people: Méliès, DW Griffith, Mary Brian, Louise Brooks and German productions...

This is to many the first western film and one of the best movies of the early 1900's. No film before 1903 had action like this, this movie was definitely ahead of it's time. It's a short film, about 10 minutes and i'm pretty sure it's copyright has expired so you can watch it freely on the internet. It's also the first film Broncho Billy Anderson was in(Who was a famous actor that played in western films in the early 1900's). The plot is about a gang of outlaws that rob a train. Really nothing else to it but for many films back then their was no plot. It is considered to be a great milestone in film making, with many new filming techniques used. Some of those are on location shooting and camera movement. I recommend everyone to go watch this movie now if they are at all interested in the history of film or western movies.

This is a fun, silent film. I feel it is a very complete and compelling story of its time which brings to life the concept of train robbers & legions of the time. As far as the technical side of things, I really enjoyed the use of camera-work. The use of the different camera angles and locations of the film really makes it interesting. I also enjoyed the use of additive coloring. I did feel that it was a tad slow for my taste but I shouldn't be too critical because it came in out 1903. For silent films that I've seen, I felt The General & Nosferatu are a little smoother but considering that those both came out 20 plus years later that would be an unfair judgment. All in all, though it is a good film and I give it a 6 out of 10.

One of the very first American narrative films, "The Great Train Robbery" was a fast-paced western. It was made at the end of the American west era in 1903. For any student in film school, this is a must see. For film enthusiasts, don't miss out. It is a wonderful piece of history.In the opening of "Tombstone" in 1993, a segment of this film can be seen (the man shooting the camera), which is amazing. I always wondered where that came from. It wasn't until I was in film school myself that I found the origin to where George P. Cosmatos got that.It is now 110 years later, and this film is held in very high regard by people in the film industry. It is the standard in what film narration should and ought to be. An excellent watch.