The Great Train Robbery, 1903

The most commercially successful film of its era and the most popular American film until 1912.

More than a filmed play, TGTR combines indoor and outdoor footage, begins the move from the scene to the shot as the basic unit of film, and shows the development of the parallel story.

In the Great Train Robbery, Porter begins to use film in a way that is different from other story telling.  However, he is unable to repeat his success.