Directed by Edwin S. Porter
Written by Scott Marble and Edwin S. Porter
1903/US
Edison Manufacturing Company
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/YouTube
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
Tagline: It Electrified Dad! It Terrified Mother! It Will Amuse You!
My current project is to review the pre-1934 movies on the 1001 Movies List that I have not yet reviewed on this blog. This, one of.the first films with a plot, was fun.
Gun-crazy bandits disable a telegraph operator, shoot the postmaster on a train and blow up his strongbox, and stick up the passengers. A gun-crazy posse is soon on the trail of the bad guys.
This 11- minute Eastern neatly encapsulates the plot of many more elaborate Westerns. It’s enjoyable and the closing image is iconic.
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I also watched Robert Z. Leonard’s “The Mysterious Lady” (1928). Greta Garbo is a Russian spy and Conrad Nagel is the German officer who falls for her. MGM production values and the beauty of the leads cannot redeem the predictable plot.
It is so long time ago since I watched this one. It may actually be the first movie I watched for the List. I got this dvd with twenty or so short movies from this period and this one stood out as actually having a plot as opposed to just, Hey, the people are moving!
I also watched it early on. Was glad to see it again! There should be more good eleven-minute movies! Most of the shorts on the List are avant-garde duds.
I watch The Diane Linkletter Story every once in a while. I just can’t help myself!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-objDqw8AM&t=104s&pp=ygUiZGlhbmUgbGlua2xldHRlciBzdG9yeSBqb2huIHdhdGVycw%3D%3D
John Waters at his finest,