As usual, Messrs. White and Heisse, the originators of the bad school of film making, have demonstrated in this film that they know nothing about composition. The train approaches the onlookers and the camera straight on and the right hand of the frame is wasted until the last moment of this film. Bad camera placement would be their stock in trade throughout their careers.
Although I have blamed Mr. White for this habit in other reviews, the new EDISON: THE MOVIES BEGIN set of dvds from Kino credit the pair of them for many of the bad movies I have held Mr. White solely responsible for.
As a final note, the movie going public of 1897 was, undoubtedly, aware of this failure. These actualities brought distant scenes to people who might never otherwise have seen them. And yet, considering that movies were in a slump during this period hardly seems coincidental to me. The audience may not have been consciously aware of this, but they stayed away in droves. And artists and photographers knew all about composition in this period.