Roundhay Garden Scene (1888)

I'll tell you why so serious

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Most people say the Lumiere Brothers' short film "Workers leaving the Factory" (1895) was the first motion picture, the beginning of the movies. But really it was this short, 3 second film by Louis Aime Augustin le Prince. The simple short has about 4 people walking in a garden in front of a house. With its short run time it has become a timeless classic. Besides this I have also seen "Traffic Crossing the Leeds Bridge" by the same man which is about the same run time. Both are masterpieces and earn a spot in cinematic history.However, Kino's wonderful DVD set "The Movies Begin: A Treasury of Early Cinema" doesn't include these two fabulous shorts, which is really too bad. This was THE FIRST MOTION PICTURE KNOWN TO SURVIVE!! How could they not include it? Maybe it wasn't rediscovered when they made the set, but come on! This film, despite not being included on the set, is still a fabulous masterpiece, never mind people calling "Workers leaving the Factory" the first movie. You can't expect this film to be anything special of course, as it being the first film is special enough. The picture quality is very pristine. And, there's a mystery surrounding its filming. Rumor says that Harriet Hartley herself took part in the film. However certain sources identify her as Anne Hartley. The other woman, Sarah Whitley, died 10 days after the film was shot, increasing the sense of mystery that surrounds it.

This two seconds of film is thought to be the very first motion picture, using Louis Le Prince's single-lens camera and Eastman's paper film. It features the earliest born (but not the oldest) person ever to be in a film, Sarah Robinson Whitley, who was born in 1816. She was also the first person featured in a motion picture to die, as she did so just ten days after this film was made on October 24, 1888. She was Louis Le Prince's mother-in-law.Then there is the mystery surrounding Louis Le Prince's death/disappearance. He disappeared from a train in 1890, planning to make a trip to the United States to demonstrate his techniques. His body and luggage were never found, and legends surrounding his disappearance include the theory that Edison had him killed so that he could take credit for inventing the motion picture. A huge court battle ensued in the United States over that title and the right to collect royalties, first won by Edison against the Le Prince family, but then that court decision was overturned.There was actually a book written on the subject of the disappearance of Le Prince and how the pioneers of cinema were involved in all kinds of backstabbing - "The Missing Reel". I recommend it as not the best book ever written, but about the only work in writing on the subject.

This is probably one of the most influential films of all time.I can only think of one that is equal or more influential,that is "The Horse in Motion." Which was a series of pictures made by a horse galloping over thread which activated multiple cameras.So anyway,"Roundhay Garden Scene"has a very complex,twisted plot that will leave you wanting more.As the man emerges from his home, he looks as though he was guilty of something.It looked as though the two men were urging him to get out as quick as possible,and the women was very troubled, as though she had just lost a loved one because of a gruesome murder...Hopefully this story will continue

It's amazing what you can find in just two measly seconds of grainy film. As our lead character (I think he was the hero) starts walking to the right, where the movie eventually comes to a conclusion, you see a woman. She has a beard! And she turns as the lead character walks by her. I'd turn around as well if I was a shapely woman (check out the funbags on that hamhock!) with foot long facial hair. And to make things even worse, you got another goonball (who I think was the villain) doing the wee-wee dance around a bonnet wearing ninny. In a matter of two seconds, you see two incredible displays of humor.....now that's saying something. Or you could just look at it and think someone accidentally pressed play on the camcorder. Either or!