The Great Train Robbery (1903)

Produced by Edwin S. Porter and released by the Edison company in 1903, The Great Train Robbery is regarded as a watershed in silent film. Though Europeans like Georges Méliès had been experimenting with narrative film for some time before it, The Great Train Robbery is heralded as one of the first major films to step outside the simple documentary record of everyday events to tell a contrived story. It is also notable for stringing this narrative through more elaborate transitions, editing and on-set moving camera work than had been seen in previous "tableau" style pictures. These make The Great Train Robbery one of the indispensible films of American cinema history, and I hope you enjoy its full 12 minute feature length presentation here...