Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge

Even though "Traffic Crossing the Leeds Bridge" and "Roundhay Garden Scene" are remembered as the first true movies ever shot, it is even more amazing how well they've aged. Despite being 130 years old this year, the prints of both appear to be crisp, detailed and very beautiful. Even though the entire clip of this film lasts only two seconds, the detail seen in those two seconds is remarkable. Pedestrians, horses and carriages, buildings etc. are all caught in this wonderfully framed short by the father of the motion picture, Louis le Prince.

Roundhay Garden Scene (1888)

Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge (1888)

If you've ever wondered what the first movies ever made were then here you go. Director Louise Le Prince shot these two films with a single lense camera he made in 1888. From what I've read, both were shot in October of 1888 because the director's mother died this month and she's featured in the first film (which I just had to watch twice). The first film has some sort of creepy feel along with it but if you're interested then you can see them at IMDb or Youtube. Both just last for two seconds but at least I can now say I saw the first film ever made.

In 1888 the city of Leeds, in England, became part of history of cinema as the place where the first movies were made. It was the place where a French inventor named Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince successfully tested his invention for the first time and created the first moving images in history. Of course, history often credits either Thomas Alva Edison or the Lumière brothers as the inventors of cinema, and not without a reason, as they were the first who made public exhibitions of movies; however, it was Louis Le Prince who shot the first movies a couple of years before Edison and the Lumières. Sadly, Le Prince would die under mysterious circumstances shortly after this monumental achievement (in 1890), and so, being unable to offer public demonstrations, his name was soon forgotten when film was presented by other inventors. Despite this tragic turn of events, it's never late to give the proper credit to Louis Le Prince as the father of cinema.

In the first movie ever, "Roundhay Garden Scene", Le Prince captured his wife's family on a day at the garden, as they walked and moved in order to test his camera. For his second experiment, Le Prince went to Leeds Bridge, and shot a 2 seconds of the traffic crossing the bridge. The carriages pulled by horses are captured by Le Prince's camera in what could be considered as the very first documentary in history, as it shows another typical day at the Leeds bridge. Obviously, Le Prince's intention was to capture real moving objects to prove that his invention was not fake, so what better way to do it than filming the traffic? Despite its extremely short runtime, this movie is quite interesting as it's a small glimpse to life in the late Victorian era, almost like a time machine to a past that now, more than 100 years later feels very distant.

Watching this movie (as well as "Roundhay Garden Scene") today is a strangely mystifying experience, as while in its short runtime barely nothing happens, the fact that before this movie there wasn't anything, that this was the very first time a movie was made, gives the film an almost supernatural atmosphere. The experiment was successful and cinema was born. It's a tragedy that Le Prince didn't live to see how his invention would grow, and never witnessed his invention becoming an art form and a new way of entertainment. While he never saw the magic of Georges Méliès's movies, or the narrative methods of Edwin S. Porter and D.W. Griffith, Le Prince showed the bridge. Edison, Lumière, and the rest of the pioneers would follow him and change history for ever. 10/10

This is only one of two films (the other being Roundhay Garden Scene) that survive from Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince. According to his son Adolphe Le Prince, this film was shot in Oct, 1888.

The elder Le Prince was a pioneer film-maker and the inventor of the first motion picture film camera to use perforated paper film. His work predates that of WKL Dickson working for Thomas Edison, and the films of the Lumière Brothers by a few years.

Alas, Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince was not to reap the fruits of his labour. In Sept, 1890, as he was taking a train to Paris to show his discovery to the world, Le Prince and all his camera equipment disappeared without a trace. Edison, Dickson, and Lumière would claim the credit for inventing the motion picture. But, it was really Le Prince who made the first ones (the efforts of Marey and Muybridge notwithstanding).

Similar to Bill Sweeds movie: 'A ship runs across the ocean at 5 miles an hour.' In this case, though, we see a bunch of old fords and Chryslers being piloted. And on the cement corner, the mayor is shown saluting everything directly around him. Then he turns around and a camera barely catches his expression of bewildering confusion.