Like remembering the
good ol’ days of film? Me too! Let’s revisit the classics together on
#FlashbackFridays, with my current series, Revisiting the Movies (which should
last a little over a year).
1890’s
Arrival Of A Train At La Ciotat Station (1896)
Since I have seen very little movies before 1950, the first 6
films I will present will be for their respective decades (starting with this
one). Afterwards, it will revert to single years.
Anyways, we start off this weekly presentation of Revisiting the
Movies with Arrival Of A Train, a classic motion picture for establishing
movies as a real form of entertainment. Although only considered a novelty at
the time, the Lumière brothers, Auguste and Louis, invented the motion picture
and patented it. They toured the world, showing this revolutionary new medium,
but all of their work was limited to short films demonstrating the awe of
motion pictures. Although they invented it, they did not understand its
artistic potential, being a physicist and a manager. Nevertheless, I thank them
for it.
Now to progress to the actual film, it is not of itself a wholly
remarkable movie, but it frightened viewers in those early years, making many
panic that the train was about to hit them in the theater! It was not the first
film by the Lumière brothers, but I like it the best because of the angle of
the shot. This represents the first cinematic shot of a train sweeping by the
camera’s view, showing us the waving crowd and the train exiting offscreen.
This angle has been used countless times since then in so many films, and yet,
it all originated right here. Absolutely classic.
P.S. - Many thanks to the terrific film Hugo, by Martin Scorsese
in 2011, for bringing most of these old films to my attention!
P.P.S. - If you would like to see this film, right now, click
this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dgLEDdFddk
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