Edwin Porter was experimenting when he made this movie. At this time, there was an argument as to what a cut and jump to another scene meant. Standard magic-lantern grammar, which Porter had used in the previous year's LIFE OF AN American FIREMAN was originally edited so that it would recapitulate the previous scene, from a different angle, perhaps, but moving back a bit in time. Yes, a change in scene could indicate a change in time on the stage and in a book, but would it mean the same thing on the screen? So Porter shot this carriage ride, with a bit of comic elaboration to test the question. It worked. Indeed, the modern viewer looking at it thinks there is a lot of dead time -- so says the other reviewer. But while it does seem to drag, it is still an enormous advance in the movement from camera tricks as the point of a film to the way those tricks help tell a story.