The Great Train Robbery

Arthur Conan Doyle wrote an "impossible' crime story about a train that vanishes into thin air. A famous retired detective, who is unnamed, lends his thoughts to solving the case. Two Republic westerns, The Great Train Robbery and William Elliott's THE LAST BANDIT seem to borrow the basic mystery and its solution. If I'm not mistaken a 1930's serial THE LOST SPECIAL also involves a missing train. I also remember seeing a very clever animated film in which Holmes solves a similar problem with pure logic at the American Film Institute when they did a series of Sherlock Holmes movies. If you want to stretch a point, Banacek once explained how a flat car can vanish from the middle of a moving train. As far as I know nobody credits Conan Doyle with the original story

A film beyond fiction and nonfiction Any form of art is a replication of reality. Any artist get inspiration from real life to mimic the experience through some medium and that is art. As poetry is considered the creative creation of poet and his emotions some where it deals with real life experiences and aspirations. Novel is a literary form which opens a different platform for human life and experiences. Cinema came is considered to be very young form of art which came in to existence just 100 years ago. A Russian legendary film director Andreai Tarkavosky said long back, "Cinema is a reflection of life." Cinema is an art from which amalgamate all other forms of art right from poetry, literature, sculpture, music, drama and graphics. This particular form has been a powerful medium. It started 19th Century and proved its power by invading Russian government and making a way for Communism. Adolf Hitlar already used it during Second World War for his own agenda. Many film makers have made films on famous novels, famous personalities and social incidences. Film has made a great impact on humankind. Today we all humans are connected with only one language which is not bound by any border of country or state. It is the language of Cinema. It is always wonderful way to watch a film and analysis the social change. Special26 has been a successful film. This film is based on a real life incidence of 1986, a year of no mobile and internet. We vehemently notice this fact. We also see the neatly crated plan of robbery and their style of execution. Even today this case is pending. Last week police have caught thugs. Who has confessed, of their inspiration out of film 'Special26'. The plan they have made and executed it. Certainly this is an unfortunate incidence. This should not have taken place and we are not the only country where this happens. 'The Great Train Robbery' 1903 very famous silent film it became noticeable for its use of cross cut of editing. Later many films have been made like that. In 1960 an incidence of Train Robbery took place in United Kingdom, where a train was traveling from UK to France. Five people were the culprits Ronnie Biggs who was one of them died very recently. In 1963 US made color film of this substance by the name of 'The Great Train Robbery'. Novel on this got published in 1975 by Micheal Crichton. He wrote this novel on the incidence of 1805 robbery. Train Robbery has been a part of classical plot in Bollywood. We can see some of the glaring examples like Sholey, Tees Maar Khan, Dhoom, Race and many more.

Films do not encourage crimes. Do not built criminals it is the audience who not only watch films they live it. This is high time to realize, Film is a powerful medium, and it has to be used judiciously. It helps records history and not it is proved that it is even shaping literature. All literary critis should expand their horizons by clinging films as a part of 'art form'.

The plot of this film, as best I can remember it from 67 years ago was something like this. The bad guys, and in 1941 the bad guys had no redeeming character traits, decided to rob a train because it would be carrying an unusually valuable shipment in its baggage car. They needed more time than would be allotted if they merely stopped the train to perform the dastardly deed.

What most people in the movie had forgotten about was a railroad siding that lead into a long since abandoned dead-ended tunnel. I do remember at the time that there was a logical reason for the tunnel's existence -- but 67 years! Give me a break, I don't remember what it was. Now the reason most people had forgotten about the railroad siding was that not only was the tunnel no longer of purpose but also the tracks leading into the tunnel were covered with a thin layer of sand that had simply blown over the tracks.

So the bad guys stop the train and have it backed into the tunnel, the weight of the passenger cars and engine being enough to keep it on the tracks; tracks covered with that thin covering of sand. The train was backed into the tunnel and the tunnel entrance blasted shut. The wind quickly blew more sand over the tracks hiding all evidence of a train having passed over them and into the tunnel.

Then the clever part; further up the tracks at a railroad crossing the villains set up a system of loud speakers and loudly played the sounds of the train passing by right on time at the very early AM. They telephoned a conductor living in the town, waking him so that he could hear the train go by. The train never arrived at it's destination.

Now in 1941 at 13 years old I didn't much care about Arthur Conan Doyle. I just vividly remember parts of the film and hope that some day it becomes available on DVD. It sure was exciting way back then when just about all the characters in the film "knew" the train was somewhere between points b and c and I sat there really knowing that it was in that abandoned tunnel between points a and b.