The Great Train Robbery -- 1903

Now here we go. We're finally getting into some good stuff. This one is often called the first Western, but it has a lot of great action elements in it as well. It also has (drum roll...) color! Yup, for little parts, we get some color tinting where someone goes onto the print or something and actually colors in parts of the picture to add a little bit of flair to it.

This one involves a group of robbers who hop a train, rob its passengers, steal the engine, run into the woods, and are finally caught up to by a posse who takes them down. Got a fistfight, several people are shot, one is punched out and thrown from a moving train, and finally, a big shootout. Lots of excitement and a big leap from the simplicity seen so far. And they do it all completely without dialogue or intertitles.