Although often referred to as such, this two-second clip from 1887 by Louis le Prince is not an actual film at all. While in some ways it could be considered animation, the manner in which it was shot is important as to its qualification. Like the Eadweard Muybridge studies, "Man Walking Around the Corner" is compiled of a frame sequence of sixteen well-shot photographs to create the illusion of movement. The true first celluloid film is Le Prince's own "Roundhay Garden Scene" (1888), recorded on real motion picture filmstock, followed by "Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge" of the same year. As stated by reviewer boblipton, this film is then available as a listing on IMDb only as an early attempt to start the development of motion pictures, as an artifact of the preliminary stages of the medium.
Since I last edited/wrote this review, the problem concerning the picture quality of this frame sequence has been addressed. As other IMDb reviewers state, the two second short is "needing a restoration", etc, and rightfully so. This Louis le Prince film has been available for many years in a blurry, unwatchable format, which hardly allows us to appreciate the movement created by the photography or the details in the setting. The film is now rendered in a much crisper, nicer HD copy on YouTube--a huge improvement over the other one--and looks just as restored as "Roundhay Garden Scene" and "Traffic Crossing the Leeds Bridge". It's nice to see it looking much more cleaned up, and if you are interested this copy is the recommendable one.
The title tells us what to expect, although it remains somewhat inaccurate since the man appears to be walking across the corner, rather than around it. This is a minor thing to point out, however, and the movement is well-shot, although the identity of the man walking seems to be unknown.
