The Train Wreckers
About The Train Wreckers
The switchman's daughter brings her father his lunch and says good morning to her sweetheart, the engineer. She hears outlaws planning to derail his train. They tie her to a tree. Her dog helps her get loose, and she warns the engineer in time. After the train has gone, the wreckers come back, knock her out, and leave her on the rails. The engineer climbs onto the cowcatcher and lifts her off. The engine is uncoupled, and the crew run down the men, who have fled on a handcar.
Cast & crew
More about The Train Wreckers
Edwin S. Porter directed and photographed the picture for Edison. Thomas A. Edison copyrighted it on 25 November 1905, numbers H69066 through H69078. Edison released it on 27 November 1905. The AFI Catalog gives the length as 815 feet. Wikipedia lists a running time of 12 minutes. Gilbert M. Anderson plays the last of the wreckers. Margaret Illington plays the switchman's daughter.
Themes
Making
Porter uses a working locomotive for the cowcatcher rescue and a handcar for the getaway. The daughter is knocked down only after she has already stopped the first attempt, so the second attack is revenge, not the original plan.
Reviews
Charles Musser, in his history of early American film, treats the short as a model for later fights between a loyal crew and a gang trying to break the line.
Look
Porter shot it himself. The rescue is staged on the front of a moving engine, with the woman on the rails and the engineer on the cowcatcher.
Preservation
The film survives. A file is on Wikimedia Commons, and the AFI Catalog cites Treasures from the Film Archives.
Notes
- Edison sold 157 prints in 1905 and 1906. Wikipedia calls it the company's most popular film of 1905.
- The catalogue number in the AFI source list is Edison Film no. 273, dated 27 November 1905.
- Anderson, later Broncho Billy, is the last outlaw, not the engineer.
- A New York Clipper notice is dated 23 December 1905.
- Charles Musser wrote that the short shows why the railroad men have to hold together, and that the pattern could serve later films of heroes against a gang.
Scenes
- She is tied to a tree and gets free with the dog.
- The wreckers lay her on the track. The engineer takes her up from the cowcatcher.
- The loose engine runs down the handcar.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (The Train Wreckers (1905) - yt.webm)
