Lumiere’s First Picture Show (1975)

Director	Auguste Lumiere, Louis Lumiere
Producer	Lumiere Bros.
Contributors	Blackhawk Films, Eastin-Phelan Distributing Corp.
Length	15 minutes
B&W/Color	B&W
UO Library Catalog description:	Film presents a brief history of the technical developments in early motion pictures up to and including Auguste and Louis Lumière. This film is reproduced from a collection of Lumière films unearthed in November, 1972.
Call #	Mb194
Genre	Experimental, Short
Rare	No
Online	Yes
Copyright status	©1974 Blackhawk Films
Physical condition	Good
Oregon-related	No

Notes: Lumiere’s First Picture Show is an essential compilation of the Lumiere brothers’ seminal films during the late 1800’s. It highlights the various films in terms of the technical aspects of film making developed by the brothers in their movies. Many of these shorts are quintessential films that are often shown in the academic realm. I believe viewing them on film is a big part of being conscious of the medium the brothers were working with while creating these movies. The series was transferred to a single 16mm reel after they were found in 1972 and distributed by Blackhawk Films in 1975.

The reel includes the following Lumiere shorts:

La sortie des usines–
Déjeuner de bébé–
Partie d’écarté–
Demolitian d’un mur–
Bataille de neige [?]–
Mise en batterie–
Enfants aux jouets–
Arroseur et arrosé–
Joueurs de cartes arrosés–
Photographe–
Bataille de femmes–
Arrivée du train á la Ciotet–
Basse-cour [?]–
Querelle d’enfants–
Chaudière–
Enfants pêchant des cresvettes [?]–
Baignade en mer [?]

Although the film isn’t particularly rare, and many of these shorts can be easily found online, I think that it’s important for any institution of education with a cinema studies program to have at least one copy of Lumiere’s First Picture Show in some form. It is simply too important in terms of historical reference to destroy or get rid of. As I stated before, I believe that viewing it in filmic form provides a more pronounced consciousness of how it was shot and the technology used during the birth of cinema. I think that something is lost in translation when viewing footage such as this digitally.