THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY is one of the first "modern" movies because there is a definite plot as well as scenery, a coherent story and suspense. While this is also true of the even better French film, Le Voyage dans la lune that was shot a year earlier (1902), other than that, "movies" were almost exclusively plot less (they just turned on the camera and recorded mundane activities), or had no beginning, middle AND end--they were just snippets of action. At a whopping ten plus minutes, this movie was significantly longer than the average film as well (which often lasted less than one minute).
On the plus side, it was and is still pretty watchable, with decent indoor sets and outdoor scenes, lots of action and some inventive camera-work. On the negative side, some of the action scenes were really, really lame--even for 1903! For instance, when the two men are fighting on the train, it's very obvious that the man is switched with a dummy and the dummy is tossed over the side--it really could have been done a lot better. BUT, because it is such an early attempt, I can forgive this!
On the plus side, it was and is still pretty watchable, with decent indoor sets and outdoor scenes, lots of action and some inventive camera-work. On the negative side, some of the action scenes were really, really lame--even for 1903! For instance, when the two men are fighting on the train, it's very obvious that the man is switched with a dummy and the dummy is tossed over the side--it really could have been done a lot better. BUT, because it is such an early attempt, I can forgive this!