Roundhay Garden Scene

How interesting, moving images from 1888. This film only plays for two seconds and could be considered as the first film ever made, at least the first one where the prints have survived.

That director is Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince, who mysteriously disappeared in 1890 after making only two short films. The other one is 'Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge' also from 1888. Le Prince is the first great name when you talk about motion pictures, even though Lumière and Edison are much more famous. Seeing his two films, both two seconds long, gives a special feeling. Basically you are watching the birth of cinema. It is the same feeling you get while watching early work from Edison (his kinetoscopic record of a sneeze), Lumière (the arrival of a train) and Méliès (the first science-fiction narrative). You should try it!

The two seconds of 'Roundhay Garden Scene' contains two men and two women in Roundhay Garden. One of the men seems to follow a woman while the other man is crossing the screen changing his path to the other man in the last fraction of the shot. What happens there?

The name of Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince is not listened often when talking about history of film, as the strange circumstances surrounding his death and the troubles his work found after his disappearance covered his achievements with a cloud of mystery; however, it is probably the most important person in the history of film-making, as Le Prince was the man responsible of the very first recording of motion images on film. A dedicated inventor, Louis Le Prince started experimenting with film as early as 1881 (years before Thomas Alva Edison or the Lumière brothers), and by 1886 he was almost ready to take the big step, as he built his first successful movie camera. Someday around October 1888, Le Prince captured on film what would become the world's first motion picture: a family scene in a garden of Roundhay, Leeds, during his time in England. Cinema was born in that garden.

The now legendary 2 seconds short features his son Adolphe walking across the garden while the family of Le Prince's wife, the Whitleys, move on the background, probably wondering if what their son-in-law is doing will work. And it work marvelously, as the images of that day at the garden were captured, and finally the photographs were moving. Sadly, "Roundhay Garden Scene" was also tainted by tragedy, as Sarah Whitley, Le Prince's mother-in-law died just ten days after the shooting of the movie, so probably she was not able to see her image moving in the background of the scene. Considering the enormous importance of this invention, it's easy to wonder why isn't the name of Le Prince better known, and why are Edison and the Lumière brothers credited as the cinema inventors.

The reasons behind this apparent forgetfulness are many, but the most important is the fact that tragically, he died before making his first public demonstration, and was not alive when the legal battles over the patent of the invention began. The mysterious death of Le Prince put him out of the picture and by the next decade, the names of Edison and the Lumières would become the ones related to film-making. While history credits Auguste and Louis Lumière as the fathers of cinema, it would be fair to give Louis Le Prince part of the credit, as while the brothers indeed invented cinema as we know it (they were the first to make public demonstrations), it was Le Prince's invention what would truly be the beginning of all. The shiny day at Roundhay garden that Le Prince captured in this film, is a fitting symbol for the shiny future that cinema had ahead. 10/10

Oh my God! It's Attack of the 80's all over again... the 1880's!! This smashing blockbuster was not only the absolute first of its time, it stands well on its own as an epic mystery story. The questions this movie raises are plenty:

1) Who is the woman in the funny hat? Why does she turn away from the camera? Is there some dark secret she is desperately trying to hide?

2) Why is the man to the left so eager to leave? Afraid that the camera will make evidence of a murder eternal?

OK, so maybe two questions may not count as plenty in today's plot twist-jaded audience, but still it is quite an amazing feat for a two seconds long film to leave you feeling both dazed and confused, left wanting for more, yet afraid of what horrible truths you might find and wondering if the truth can really live up to your imagination.

Roundhay Garden Scene is a masterwork, right up there with "Leeds Bridge" and "Train Pulling Into Bombay Station". Recommended for all ages! 10/10

(r#10)

If ever there were the case for a ten out of ten rating, this and 'Traffic Crossing the Leeds Bridge' are it. This is the first film ever made -- or at least the earliest film to survive. It is absolutely priceless and has an incalculable value for the history of film. The wonderful thing is that anyone can watch it through the 'Video Clip' link on the IMDb. Very interesting to have a brief glimpse of life 118 years ago. 'Traffic Crossing the Leeds Bridge' is equally fascinating (and brief). There is really no comparison as they both show a brief glimpse of the nineteenth century, but, if forced to choose, I'd say watch that one. Both are tremendous, however, and we're extremely lucky that they've been preserved.

I have a very hard time tracking down this for an essay I was writing for English class.It is very hard to believe how far we have come with movies,this being why.

This is by far,the shortest movie ever produced in cinema history,next to Traffic On Leeds Bridge,which was as short as this.I don't get why people rated this so poorly,being those that rated this a 1-5.This was the late 1800s of course.And it's pretty damn impressive,compared to these 3-D IMax action flicks we have now,that is filled with CGI and explosions.

I give this 10 stars.This was the mother of all movies,and of course one of the first surviving ones.