r/silentmoviegifs

The Great Train Robbery (1903) — Edison sold this shot separately and told exhibitors to put it at either the beginning or the end

The Great Train Robbery (1903), dir. Edwin S. Porter, Edison Manufacturing Company. Public domain.

The man is Justus D. Barnes. The shot belongs nowhere in the story — Edison's catalogue listed it on its own and left the placement to whoever was running the projector, so depending on which theatre you walked into in 1903 this was either the first thing you saw or the last.

u/Party_Tennis_128 — 10 days ago