Blog 10: The Great Train Robbery

"The Great Train Robbery" was filmed in 1903 and directed by Edwin Porter.  This is a silent film only depicting the video and the actions of the characters and accompanied by music.  There are 4 robbers that raid a train station, first assaulting and tying up the station attendant after hiding from what is most likely the conductor and instructing the attendant to tell him something.  The robbers then hide behind a water tower as it is emptying water onto the train and they sneak onto the train.  They shoot and kill a man that is most likely the mail carrier and use explosives to open the safe holding cash or valuables.  They then kill a man on top of the train and throw him off the moving train.  They force the conductor to stop the train, unhook the engine portion of the train from the cargo and passenger cars, unload all the passengers and shoot a man as he tries to escape.  After robbing the passengers they get onto the engine with their stolen valuables and after a short while bail off of the train and escape to getaway horses staked at the bottom of a hill.  Back at the station a girl finds the man still tied up and when she unties him the station attendant goes to what seems like a saloon or dance hall.  There he finds men dancing and gets them to chase down the robbers.  They pursue the robbers on horseback and shoot one robber while riding away.  When the robbers gather around thinking that they have avoided capture and begin to evaluate their sacks the men sneak up on them on foot and shoot all the bandits.  The last scene of the bandit shooting at the screen is somewhat confusing considering that all of the outlaws had been shot the previous scene.