The Story of the Kelly Gang premiered at the Athenaeum Hall in Melbourne, Australia. Running for more than an hour in its original form, it is widely recognised as the world's first feature-length narrative film. It dramatised the career of the Australian outlaw Ned Kelly.

Feature cinema demonstrated that film could sustain complex stories formerly associated with novels and theatre. Its use of the Kelly legend also showed how national folklore, ballads and historical memory could be refashioned for mass visual audiences.