The Great Train Robbery overview

Synopsis:

Director Edwin S. Porter made film history when he completed the 13 sequences for the 12-minute The Great Train Robbery, released in 1903 but based on an 1896 story by Scott Marble. Featuring the first parallel development of separate, simultaneous scenes, and the first close-up (of an outlaw firing off a shot right at the audience), The Great Train Robbery is among the earliest narrative films with a "Western" setting. The opening scenes show the outlaws holding up the passengers and robbing the mail car in the train, before escaping on horseback.


see full synopsis

Movie Details:

  • Category: Feature
  • Genre/Type: Western
  • Filmed in: Silent, Color, B&W, Short Film

Exclusive coverage