The Great Train Robbery (1903 film)

The Great Train Robbery
The bandits coming under fire while attempting to escape with the loot.
Directed by	Edwin S. Porter
Produced by	Edwin S. Porter
Written by	Edwin S. Porter Scott Marble
Starring	Alfred C. Abadie Broncho Billy Anderson Justus D. Barnes Walter Cameron
Cinematography	Edwin S. Porter Blair Smith
Edited by	Edwin S. Porter
Distributed by	Edison Manufacturing Company Kleine Optical Company
Release date	December 1, 1903 (1903-12-01)
Running time	12 minutes (at 18 frame/s)
Country	United States
Language	Silent English intertitles
Budget	$150

The Great Train Robbery is a 1903 American silent short Western film written, produced, and directed by Edwin S. Porter, a former Edison Studios cameraman. Actors in the movie included Alfred C. Abadie, Broncho Billy Anderson and Justus D. Barnes, although there were no credits. Though a Western, it was filmed in Milltown, New Jersey. The film was inspired by Scott Marble's 1896 stage play.

At twelve minutes long, The Great Train Robbery film is considered a milestone in film making, expanding on Porter's previous work Life of an American Fireman. The film used a number of then-unconventional techniques, including composite editing, on-location shooting, and frequent camera movement. The film is one of the earliest to use the technique of cross cutting, in which two scenes are shown to be occurring simultaneously but in different locations. Some prints were also hand colored in certain scenes. Techniques used in The Great Train Robbery were inspired by those used in Frank Mottershaw's British film A Daring Daylight Burglary, released earlier in the year. Film historians now largely consider The Great Train Robbery to be the first American action film and the first Western film with a "recognizable form".

In 1990, The Great Train Robbery was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".