chases. A Daring Daylight Burglarys story and editing appear to have supplied the overall narrative structure for The Great Train Robbery, though in the latter film the chase is only made explicit in one shot, the twelfth. Porter's plot also profited from the booming popularity of railroad-related film attractions, such as phantom rides and standalone comic scenes set on trains. The Great Train Robbery would treat the rail theme more elaborately than was common, showing its train from various angles and involving it in a dramatic adventure. Filming Porter filmed The Great Train Robbery in November 1903. Some scenes were photographed at the Edison studio in New York, and others were done in New Jersey, in Essex County Park and along the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. The stream-crossing scene was filmed at Thistle Mill Ford in the South Mountain Reservation of Essex County Park. The cast included Justus D. Barnes as the leader of the outlaws, Walter Cameron as the sheriff and G. M. Anderson in three small roles (the murdered passenger, the dancing tenderfoot, and one of the robbers). Many Edison workers were among the extras. Edison filmmaker J. Blair Smith was one of the camera operators. According to rumors in a contemporary New York Times piece on the film, the Edison Company initially attempted to get the railroad company to lend their tracks and cars for free, arguing that it would be good publicity for the line; the railroad directors disagreed, but eventually allowed their resources to be used if Edison also made a more straightforward advertising film for them. The article adds that a real fireman and engineer play those respective parts in the film, and that the filming caused some disturbance when the dummy thrown off the locomotive was mistaken by passersby for a real accident victim. Porter's visual style for The Great Train Robbery was not cutting edge for 1903; it is comparable to numerous other films released around the same time, such as The Escaped Lunatic, a popular Biograph Studios comedy about wardens chasing an escapee from a mental institution, and Runaway Match, a British Gaumont film featuring an extended car chase sequence. Mary Jane's Mishap, a landmark dark comedy made by Brighton pioneers G. A. Smith and Laura Bayley and released months before The Great Train Robbery, is far more sophisticated in its editing and framing. Porter's style heavily prioritized action over