The First Film

Beautifully made and compelling to watch, this is a stylish personal journey taking us back in time to 19th Century Leeds, where we discover the original, yet still unknown and unsung, inventor of the first moving image.

The director's passion for his subject is as focused as it is clear, and David Nicholas Wilkinson, himself a former actor, is as charming as he is charismatic. Placing himself at the centre of the film's journey of discovery, Wilkinson has created a smoothly seductive narrative device, transforming what in lesser hands might have amounted to a mere factual programme into the story of one man's obsessive mission to investigate the truth about the birth of cinema, a truth mired in the mists of 19th century history and the brutal competition wrought by the tail end of Northern England's industrial revolution.

The film also showcases a series of irresistible cameos featuring both well-known and not- so-well-known film industry insiders, including actors, writers, financiers and others, all providing an off-the-cuff perspective that might well have been expected instead from outsiders.

This wonderful film is apparently still in search of a sales agent and of distribution outside the UK - let's hope it gets the worldwide release it deserves.

Documentary on Louis Le Prince's work on moving pictures and his cameras as well as his disappearance. I will admit this documentary was interesting. Unfortunately there is at least 30 minutes that should have been cut.

Things like watching people have a conversation but we don't actually hear what they are saying. A visit to a house where nothing actually happened there. Later asking several people if the host has convinced them Le Prince made the first film and none of them really answering.

I wasn't convinced either. They didn't provide much more info than you can read on Le Prince's Wikipedia page. Only thing additional is seeing the few frames of film that exist and a replica of one of the cameras.

I don't recommend this documentary because of the extra garbage. If that was cut out it would have been so much better.

It stopped me in my tracks. Literally, The First Film stopped me in my tracks. In 2015 I planned my annual trip to Paris and intended to take a high-speed train to visit the Lumiere museum in Lyon, home of the 'first film'. So I thought. Then I got wind of this intriguing story about the origin of moving images coming from, well, of all places. Silly, I know, but although of course I have no doubt the Lumiere museum is a wonderful treasure trove, it seemed it could take the edge off being it's true home. (I went to Nancy instead, home of Art Nouveau) The First Film is obviously a life's work and ambition, propelled by more than a dash of a desire to get to the truth, no matter how unpalatable that may be to those who have a view of history that is set in stone. It's a beautifully constructed piece of detective work and leads to many avenues and has many fascinating twists and turns, not so much of 'Who do you think you are' rather 'What links us to who we are'. Of course I will not reveal any details, but there is intrigue, mystery, revelations abound and dastardly deeds too and it comes with an added dash of unexpected humour which is not scripted and all the better for it. It's wide ranging in it's locations but yet so close to home that one can't help feel sorry for those who long for the romance of the French tales or the genius of the U.S.A. entrepreneur driven stories, and yet, and yet. Louis le Prince has by his own genius reached through time by turning money into light and in turn Mr. Wilkinson has mirrored him and shed light on history. History will judge and form it's own opinion, but David has added his own unique perspective to movie history and I am certain Louis and all of us will be grateful that someone cared for him and us.

Everything we know about the dawn of film making is perhaps not what we have always believed it to be. This is a really intriguing story about the beginning of film and the mystery of the disappearance of perhaps the father of film. David is an enjoyable host who clearly has a passion and thorough knowledge of His subject. It is a very well put together documentary, beautifully told and faultlessly constructed. Highly recommended.

Maybe there was a day and age that film classes were overly stressing the importance of Edison and the Lumière Brothers. I myself have witnessed classes at the Dutch Film Academy were the legend of the frightened public fleeing the first performance of the Cinématographe were told. But that is a long long time ago.

Already for another long time the work of Louis le Prince is recognised as an important part of the 19th century saga of many inventors trying to analyse an synthesize still images into moving images.There are many of them, mostly indeed unknown by the general public but the experts know them for sure.

In 1996 the book "Who's Who of Victorian Cinema" by Luke McKernan an Stephen Herbert, two eminent film historians, was published and credit was certainly given to Louis le Prince.

In 1997 Christopher Rawlence wrote the book "The Missing Reel" and made a film of the same title about Louis le Prince. You can find the info about that film here on the IMDb. So "The Missing Reel" was there before "The First Film"'

This is in no way meant to put down "The First Film" in any sort of way. I was also astonished when I read and later saw "The Missing Reel". Le Prince deserves very rightly a place in the history of the development of the cinema as a whole. No doubt about that! Any extra attention to him is very welcome, like so many other contructors/inventors. The 19th century is teeming with them.

But let's not forget the impact the Cinématographe-type of the Lumière Brothers had on the general public and the gulf of innovation that followed. I am not going into any discussions here who invented what, e.g. what was the role of the excellent constructor monsieur Carpentier, but I would like to say that the Cinématographe-type is an amazing compact, very portable machine, very well constructed and very wel designed. It seems simplicity itself. Of course I am an extremely lucky guy who has the opportunity to study the Cinématographe-type no. 311 and no. 88* in real life. That's an absolute joy! * With a great and warm thanks to mr. Michael Rogge (Look him up on YouTube!) for allowing me acces to his Cinématographe-type to study and even partly deconstruct it.