Bataille de neige

This brief footage of a snowball fight is both fun and funny. It gives a convincing appearance of spontaneity, but at the same time the camera field catches so much that it seems quite likely that at least some planning was involved. In either case, it's one of the lightest and most amusing of the early Lumière features.

The participants include both men and women, most of them rather nicely dressed. Watching adults unashamedly romping around like this is good fun, and it's hard not to think of Laurel and Hardy or other similar performers. Indeed, the bicyclist who happens onto the scene would have fit right in as a character in a Laurel and Hardy comedy.

As you expect with Lumière, the photography is good, but this time it is the amusing antics that will make this one memorable.