bsmith5552 "The Great K & A Train Robbery" is an action packed Tom Mix western in which he plays a special agent Tom Gordon called in to help railroad president Eugene Cullen (William Walling solve the hold-ups of his railway. Tom arrives but unknown to Cullen, is working undercover as a masked bandit in order to study the railroad gang's movements. Cullen's daughter Madge (Dorothy Dean) is on her way home when gang leader Bill Tolfree (Edward Piel Sr.) decides that the kidnapping of Madge would yield a large ransom payment.Tom, who had been listening in hiding to the gang's plans, rescues Madge and escapes the gang's clutches. Madge becomes attracted to the devil may care bandit while Cullen's secretary Burton Holt (Carl Miller) looks on jealously. Holt, it turns out is a snake in the grass, informing the gang of upcoming bank shipments.While escaping from Cullen's private train, Tom meets hobo Deluxe Harry (Harry Grippe) riding beneath the private railway car. It turns out that Harry had served under Tom in another life. To make a long story short, Harry overhears Holt telling Tolfree of the railway's plans to move the shipment of gold bonds from the original train to Cullen's private train.Using a pull car, Harry races to inform Tom of Holt's deceit. Tom manages to foil the robbery and gives the box containing the bonds to Harry for safekeeping. However Holt shoots Harry down and takes the box and flees. It turns out that the gang has a secret underwater cave hideout. Tom follows Holt to the hideout and..................................................................In this action packed film, we are treated to many spectacular stunts. Mix is supposed to have performed them but I can't see the studio allowing him perform the most dangerous ones. The stunts involving sliding down a rope or crossing a ravine are shown in long shots where you cannot see the faces. The hard ridin' was probably done by Mix and his horse Tony.Plenty of gunplay (although I don't remember anyone getting killed), ridin' , ropin'and fisticuiffs to satisfy all of Mix's fans. You have to laugh when Mix first enters the bandit's hideout by swimming underwater, and comes up in the cave with his hat on.The character of "Snowball" (Curtis McHenry) is typical of the movie industry's portrayal of African-Americans during this period. He is used as comedy relief in a low and demeaning manner. Pity.

Mike-764 Cullen, president of the K & A railroad, is at a loss to stop the robberies occurring on his line, even though he is unaware his secretary, Holt, is secretly tipping off the bandits with the shipments. Tom Morgan is called on to investigate, even though he needs to disguise himself as an outlaw in order infiltrate Tolfree's gang and hear their plans. When Cullen decides to send a shipment of bonds with him on another train, Holt tells Tolfree, who's going to lead his gang into robbery unless Tom's assistant, a hobo named Deluxe Harry, can relay the information to him in time. This is one of the more enjoyable Mix silents (of which there are still way too few) with a brisk pace, exciting chases, thrilling stunts throughout, and an exciting climax in an underground cave. A prologue to the film points out the exterior shots being in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, and they are very striking adding a lot of beauty to the picture. I think the film tried to be too mysterious with Mix' characterization and the character of the butler could have been eliminated since Deluxe Harry fit in well as the comic relief. Rating 8.

J_J_Gittes Contrary to the IMDb rating and its reputation, this movie is very good. If you are a fan of westerns but are tired of all the talking and waiting, of endless meaningful glances and a meditative rhythm and you want some ACTION, get this film! This is one of the best action films of all time, with some exemplary stunt work. The storyline is easy to follow, but without any plot holes as has become a standard nowadays. Tom Mix is a great Cowboy and fits the character he is portraying wonderfully. Don't get me wrong, I love Douglas Fairbanks, and admire his artistry, but besides his greater charm, he is nowhere as good as Tom Mix in this film. This is meant as an invitation to all Fairbanks' fans, because this will be exactly their kind of film. At 53 minutes, the film never drags and does what it set out to do almost perfectly. If only more films where this modest.

John Seal The story isn't much, but at a brisk 53 minutes you could do a lot worse. Some of the photography is actually quite stunning and impressive, and there's some good stunt work too. Sad to say the comedy relief from Curtis McHenry is particularly offensive to modern viewers, which may go some way to explaining this film's obscurity.