This compilation video contains films (168, to be exact) from every decade and every year since the birth of cinema, which not only demonstrates the evolution of trains, but also becomes a peculiar excursus into the history of film.
It can be said that mankind came to know the power of cinema thanks to a train. The one minute short The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station, screened in January of 1896, was one of the first films in the world. The audience was amazed and terrified. It is said that some viewers seeing the upcoming train got up and ran in fear. 120 years have passed since that day, but many filmmakers are still choosing trains to help create powerful film metaphors or dazzling action sequences. And this is no coincidence, because among the man-made “mechanical monsters” (the plane, the automobile), the train is the most monstrous and most dynamic – thanks to its impenetrable metal body, the ferocious wheels, its bolts and valves and the frantic steam of the steampipe.
