The Great Train Robbery is a 1903 American silent short Western film written, produced, and directed by Edwin S. Porter. At ten minutes long, it is considered a milestone in film making, expanding on Porter’s previous work Life of an American Fireman. The film used a number of innovative techniques including composite editing, camera movement and on location shooting. The film is one of the earliest to use the technique of cross cutting, in which two scenes appear to occur simultaneously but in different locations. Some prints were also hand colored in certain scenes. However, none of these techniques were original to The Great Train Robbery, and it is now considered that it was heavily influenced by Frank Mottershaw’s earlier British film A Daring Daylight Burglary.
Source:  IMDB

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