This was one of the early British chase films which, along with A Daring Daylight Robbery, sparked a brief craze for chase films and inspired Edwin S. Porter to make The Great Train Robbery. For my money, Daylight Robbery is probably the more exciting of the two British films (but it's a close-run thing) but A Desperate Poching Affray is far more sophisticated in terms of film-making technique. It's also an early use of realistic violence with gun-play and fist-fights throughout. No doubt it would have appealed to its working class target audience who frequented the travelling fairground exhibitions of William Haggar and his sons. This one is definitely worth a look.
Review of The Poachers
