10. The Great Train Robbery (1903)
It might seem incredibly simplistic to us now, but The Great Train Robbery directed and shot by Edwin S. Porter, a former Thomas Edison cameraman is important for a variety of reasons, most notably that it was the first publically released film to have a complex narrative, rather than just a series of visuals loosely linked together. It also introduced for the first time the possibilities of shooting on location rather than on set, while single-handedly inventing many of our modern concepts of editing. Yet it is the last shot of the ten minute film which stands out as a defining moment in cinematic history: when the bandit chief, played by George Barnes, breaks the forth wall and stares out of the movie screen directly down the lens, to leer at the audience before firing his pistol point-blank into their faces. This shot, in both senses of the word, caused viewers to faint in terror, as others ran from the auditorium in fright, making it a seminal moment in the relationship between film and audience.