a) It took so long to become movie stars because movies were considered a gimmick and a passing fad at first so people didn't take them seriously. Another reason was that the companies making the films would just give you the title of the film and the company that made it. They didn't want to put any actors' names on it because they wanted you to have brand recognition. Also, they didn't want a reason to pay actors more because they were suddenly in demand.
b) I believe it is considered a break-through film in America is because it tells a story with innovations not seen before in movies. It probably was one of the first films to shoot on-location as opposed to in a studio where it is much easier to film because they could control the light and wouldn't have to worry about weather hazards. It also uses cross cutting to show two different things happening at the same time but in different locations towards the end with the bandits on the run and the telegraph operator being awoken by his daughter, I assume. The final shot of the film with the leader of the bandits firing straight at the audience must have been shocking and it's been homaged in several subsequent films, the most famous homage probably in Goodfellas, when Joe Pesci's character shoots straight at the audience in the last shot of the film.
c) The Edison Trust was basically a bunch of companies who had the power coming together to form a monopoly on who could make films and distribute them. The independent film makers eventually won because they understood that people wanted to see the films based on the story and performances and not how long it was.
d) The Lumiere brothers were probably the first documentarians because they shot everyday things on-location. They would just set up a camera where some action would probably take place and let things happen. There was probably a lot of film that was scrapped as in any documentary but there are some great moments that are captured such as the two kids who are fighting over something I couldn't make out but that seems exactly how pampered kids act today which shows that we haven't changed much at all in more than a hundred years. The famous urban myth about the train arrival film is that when it was shown to an audience that everybody was frightened by it, it sounds silly but I doubt it. It seems like those myths that come up that tries to make people back in the day look silly and naive.
Thomas Edison's films on the other hand were pretty much re-enactments of feats of strength or everyday events done in a studio. I think it was meant to see what our seemingly menial tasks of everyday life looked like. He also filmed some athletes and showman doing entertaining things like dancing and twirling a wand. Whereas the Lumiere brothers were capturing real life as it happened on-location, Edison's films were capturing re-enactments of real life in a studio setting.
Melies' films were the most radically different from the other two film producers. He had an emphasis on storytelling and visual tricks to tell fantastical adventure stories. They were very theatrical and A Trip to the Moon was really a satire on imperialism it seemed to me. It had that theme underlying the adventure you were taken on which is what the greatest films eventually would be. The magical effects were visually dazzling and the film as a whole was very charming. As The Great Train Robbery was probably the first Western, A Trip to the Moon was probably the first science-fiction film.
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