American Cinema Entry 1: The Great Train Robbery

The Great Train Robbery is a film that was made by Edwin S. Porter in 1903. It set many precedents including the first use of editing to create continuity in a film and the first use of pan shots. It may exhibit the humble beginnings of the film making, but it remains an important achievement in the history of the medium.
The film's plot centers around, most unsurprisingly, a train robbery. A group of bandits in the traditional attire of leather boots and bandannas take over the train and have the conductor do some of their dirty work for them. They force the passengers to exit the train and "empty their pockets". They even go so far as to shoot one of the passengers in the back when he attempts to flee.
As the story continues more characters and situations are introduced. A group of justice seeking citizens of a nearby town are alerted to the unfolding actions during a spirited ho down. At this point, as you might expect, a sequence of action packed chase scenes ensues. On the top of the train and eventually through the woods, the bandits are hounded by law abiding citizens.
The film comes to a close as the thieves, oddly enough, stop to count their money in the midst of escape. The group of townspeople apprehend the criminals and the rest is left to the audience's imagination. One last close up shot of an anonymous cowboy type shooting the camera caps the film off. It should be noted that this last scene was pretty controversial. In a time when the film medium was in its infancy, few had seen such a startlingly realistic display. People found it genuinely shocking.
As mentioned, the film introduced the technique of editing. This may seem like an obvious technique, but most films before it had simply been short subjects consisting of one long shot. No real stories were told through film until The Great Train Robbery set the precedent. One editing technique it employed, that is still used today, was parallel action editing. This style of editing can be described as telling multiple lines of the same story through a series of shots taking place in different places involving different characters. It was used specifically in the Great Train Robbery to show the bandits on the train, the worker at the train station alerting a nearby town of the robbery, and the townspeople receiving the message and pursuing the thieves, imparting a sense of real-time continuity.
The Great Train Robbery helped launch both the career of Porter and, more importantly, the the film medium itself. It contained a number of firsts for film storytelling but wasn't without some faults. Although very sophisticated for its time, it use of framing and the acting style employed by the players imparted a feeling more akin to theatre and less to the distinct possibilities allowed by film. And although it was the first film to use a stunt dummy, one cannot help but chuckle at the archaic use of it in the film. The movie's contributions ultimately outweigh its downfalls in the end though, and it shows itself as a vital and enjoyable piece of history.