It was a cold day of winter in Paris, and I can almost see, like in a movie, the busy crowds of people rushing by, each to their destination...If you read the newspaper that day, you would probably have a worried feeling, because it was the 13th of February, and you might think that this number would bring bad luck on a already grim looking weather...of course, you HAD to read the newspaper to get your news, because television wasn't invented yet, we're talking about the year 1895, and every form of art, beautiful as it was, was still static, like the ice outside, nothing - paintings, books, musical compositions - nothing moved so you could see it.
That would change that very day, because February the 13th would go down in history as the day when pictures became... motion pictures, and the moment the cold outside was driven away by the warmth of a magical invention - it was the day the Lumière brothers would officially patent their contraption, named, technically, Cinématographe Lumière. But for the people who saw their first films at Grand Café in Paris on the 26th of December, this was probably named, at least in their fascinated minds, "That little box that stores magic".
Apparently magic needed a square wooden box to be properly stored in 1895...
Source: http://collectiblend.com/Cameras/Carpentier,-Jules/Cinematographe-Lumiere.html
To those privileged 200 people, who probably didn't even realize until years later how fortunate their were, were shown the first movies ever, and although some may not seem more than simple scenes of everyday life, like the one when a few seconds of the workers who left the Lumière factory was shown, other (very) short movies would go on to make history not only because they were the first, but also because they were true forms of a new art.
Among these, 2 were of the utmost importance, one, the first recorded gag in history, filled the lungs of the audience of laughter, showing one of the many emotions this new art could convey: happiness and optimism. In a clip that would be the starting point of comedy, titled l'Arroseur Arrosé ( The Sprinkler Sprinkled), you could see the now hugely overused scene of a man getting pranked while quietly watering his garden by a guy who sneaks up behind him and steps on his watering hose, naturally prompting "The Gardener" to look down the end to see what's wrong...
I wonder what's gonna happen next! Damn, this suspense is killing me!
Source: http://culturebox.francetvinfo.fr/cinema/evenements/festival-de-cannes/cannes-2015-les-films-des-freres-lumiere-jouent-les-stars-219633
And the second film among those shown could probably be called the first horror film in history, not because of it's content at all, but simply because of the reaction it triggered. Titled, quite self-explanatory "L'Arrivée d'un Train en Gare de la Ciotat" (Arrival of a Train at the La Ciotat Station - I wonder what it's about...), the movie showed exactly that, intended to be just another simple clip of everyday life, like the factory one.
However, given the fact that this was the FIRST time people saw this, they proceeded to run away in terror as the train quickly neared them! Such a reaction is comparable to a few great other cinematic moments from the most legendary horror films, such as the chestburster scene from monumental SF-Horror "Alien", which left people admiring their dinner on their theater seat, and even made a woman faint in shock (maybe she was the granddaughter of someone who watched the train clip...).
Mon Dieu! It came from his chest! Le disgusting!
Source: https://wonderifyouwonder.wordpress.com/2012/04/13/30-days-of-alien-day-11-chestburstin-a-scene-analysis/
I could go on professing my admiration for these people and their contraption forever, but this'll have to suffice for now.
On a final note, as I lay here contemplating the magic of cinema, I realize that scenes as groundbreaking as those mentioned before are hard to come by, very rare indeed do you find such a power in a film, and all I can hope for is that the world of film that I love never loses its enchanting potential to bring such unforgettable moments to life and make us remember them for as long as we live! So, here's to magic and great movies, may they regularly amaze us with their power, and truly deserve the prizes they get every year! Remember: a good movie is amazing and memorable, and it seems they still make these in our age, but a legendary movie is shattering and immortal, hard to come by, and if it's not too much to ask, I'd like these kinds of movies to be made at least once a decade, it' a fair price, I assume, for something of their worth! And let's not forget, it all started with the little magic box of the Lumière Brothers.
'Til we meet again!
