08.20.10 | guest-blogs | FanFare GuestsPrint this Post
Guest blogger Donna Hill writes:
Whomever said overt violence on film is a sad reflection on the effects of modern technology and overexposure to violence in video games has never seen Edwin S. Porter's The Great Train Robbery released in 1903. Plenty of violence and plenty of bodies for a film that runs less than 12 minutes.
Filmed in the wilds of Fort Lee, New Jersey for Hollywood had not been invented yet, The Great Train Robbery is noted for being the first linear/storyline film. The film begins at plot point A and moves through plot point Z to the wow finish in a very compact fourteen scenes. In 1903 this was pretty revolutionary. With a running time of just under 11-12 minutes (depending on projection speed) it was a blockbuster.
Having previously viewed this film in several film courses and in clips in any number of documentaries on film over the years, I confess, I tended to write it off as a primitive curiosity. It was with a more serious intent I sat down to view it again and have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it. As a modern viewer with more than a few silent films under her belt, I'd say in spite of all the western cliches that spawned from this little film in the last 106 years, it's still a pretty good picture. A corker, in fact.
Surprisingly, this little film has given me a new appreciation for the Western genre. It's a genre I've often ignored for no good reason. I'm going to look forward to viewing some more early efforts by mostly forgotten cowboys like Art Acord, Fred Thomson, Tom Mix and W.S. Hart. Admittedly, the last two are not really forgotten, but it's new territory for me.
Tim Dirks has a thorough review and break down of the film here.
This film also is noteworthy for starting the career of another legendary cinematic cowboy and pioneering producer of the early silent era, G.M. "Broncho Billy" Anderson. David Kiehn has authored a fabulous book on Essanay, Broncho Billy and the Essanay Film Company, I highly recommend it. You can also see David and some great early films if you are in the SF Bay Area by visiting the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum
![[anderson.jpg]](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_tX4uFyNzVRE/SkeyaAGkcEI/AAAAAAAAAQY/34sprNVdKGk/s1600/anderson.jpg "The Great Train Robbery 1")
G.M. Anderson as an innocent passenger, gunned down by the train robbers
A lifelong film afficionado with a particular affection for films of the silent era. Donna Hill has collected memorabilia with regard to Rudolph Valentino for over thirty years. The collection of rare photos is shared by the author's book, Rudolph Valentino The Silent Idol, his Life in Photographs. The author lives in San Francisco.For more information, visit Strictly Vintage Hollywood and Falcon Lair: The Rudolph Valentino Homepage.
The opening of the sentence should read WHOever not WHOMever. WHO is the subject and WHOM is used as the indirect or direct object of the verb.
I thought The Great Train Robbery was a Thomas Edison movie.
There was also a 1941 film THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY starring Bob Steele and Milburn Stone (Doc Adams of GUNSMOKE.) However movie historians say it is not a remake of the 1903 film but a completely different story.
Donna:
Please know that the commentary you wrote about this movie has an error
....Filmed in the wilds of Fort Lee, New Jersey for Hollywood had not been invented yet....
True, the interiors were there but the real action (the main reason it is still watched even today)was done in the towns of Dover & Denville NJ. As a matter of fact, the shopping mall in Rockaway (a town later broken off from Denville)is pretty much the main area of the flick.
Do know, I appreciated your writing on the flick but found that mistake too much let pass.
As a longtime film historian person of NJ background, I have taught various courses on film history and firmly plant the concepts of NJ's place in cinematic culture. Hence, to imply Fort Lee was used because Hollywood was not yet invented, fails to illustrate the FIRM space NJ has in early (and even current) cinema.
As a matter of fact, I am retired as Head Librarian from Columbia HS in Maplewood. A running joke I often made was that "CHS has more winners of Academy Awards than any other school. Hollywood HS has the parents as winners, but we have the most actual winners!" ie. Teresa Wright, the Shues, Roy Scheider, David Javerbaum, . . .