This short comedy is a mildly interesting combination of the progressive and the dated, not extremely so in either case, but enough so that these aspects are noticeable just in watching the movie casually. The technical side of it makes mildly resourceful use of methods that were relatively new at the time.
The story features a well-dressed woman traveling by train with her African-American maid. G.M. Anderson (the same Anderson later known as 'Broncho Billy') plays a male passenger who repeatedly makes unwanted romantic advances towards the well-dressed woman. The use of the characters' races come across today as rather stereotyped, but on the other hand, the two women are portrayed as the resourceful (and superior) heroines, while the harassing male is ridiculed for his behavior.
On the technical side, it creates an illusion of motion by the window technique that was then becoming standard. The 'tunnel' sequence, while probably not a particular challenge for an experienced film-maker like Edwin S. Porter, is also done believably. Overall, it's an average one-joke film that is really of note only for the rather contrasting social attitudes that it combines.
The story features a well-dressed woman traveling by train with her African-American maid. G.M. Anderson (the same Anderson later known as 'Broncho Billy') plays a male passenger who repeatedly makes unwanted romantic advances towards the well-dressed woman. The use of the characters' races come across today as rather stereotyped, but on the other hand, the two women are portrayed as the resourceful (and superior) heroines, while the harassing male is ridiculed for his behavior.
On the technical side, it creates an illusion of motion by the window technique that was then becoming standard. The 'tunnel' sequence, while probably not a particular challenge for an experienced film-maker like Edwin S. Porter, is also done believably. Overall, it's an average one-joke film that is really of note only for the rather contrasting social attitudes that it combines.