The screening starts with the title The Edison Projecting Kinetoscope followed by the intertitle Parisian Danger showing a girl dancing the can-can.

The second intertitle, The Black Diamond Express then appears and the film shows a train rushing towards the camera.

Firstly, it is the third of a series of films directed by Edwin S. Porter featuring the character of Uncle Josh, played by Charles Manley.

Uncle Josh Weathersby was a character, created onstage by Cal Stewart, who lived in a mythical New England farming town called "Punkin Center".

This film and the British film which inspired it have been regarded as a celebrated document of the learning process of the public regarding cinema; according to Miriam Hansen, "The proper relations among viewers, projector and the screen, the peculiar dimensions of cinematic space, were part of a cultural practice that had to be learned".