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What was the first action film?

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    What was the first action film?

    … based on the current definition of the genre.

    The one that springs to mind is The Thirty-Nine Steps (1935), which still holds up well today, but is there anything older?

    #2
    What was the first action film?

    Ben-Hur, at least, right?

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      #3
      What was the first action film?

      Not really. I was thinking of films when the central character spends most of it running, fighting, escaping and killing people.

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        #4
        What was the first action film?

        Nah, it goes back way further than that. I mean, you could go all the way back to Edwin Porter's Great Train Robbery in 1903.

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          #5
          What was the first action film?

          That's kind of an odd definition, but I can see where you're going with it.

          The first Zorro movie (as far as I can tell), was in 1920, which should meet your definition.

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            #6
            What was the first action film?

            Stumpy Pepys wrote:
            I was thinking of films when the central character spends most of it running, fighting, escaping and killing people.
            Did Hannay kill anyone?

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              #7
              What was the first action film?

              Gangster Octopus wrote:
              Stumpy Pepys wrote:
              I was thinking of films when the central character spends most of it running, fighting, escaping and killing people.
              Did Hannay kill anyone?
              I don't think he does, come to think of it.

              I only got around to seeing The 39 Steps a few years ago; what surprised me was the terrific pace of the film, which seemed to lay the template for what would come along later.

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                #8
                What was the first action film?

                Worth mentioning in this thread, Louis Feuillade did a lot of action/mystery films in the teens that did inspire Hitchcock, featuring heroes like Irma Vep and Fantomas.

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                  #9
                  What was the first action film?

                  Generally thought to be the Great Train Robbery by Edwin S. Porter in 1903

                  You can download it here or it's on youtube

                  Didn't see GY's post but I'll leave the links up.

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