Onlinewsma Absolutely Brilliant!

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

user-445-566175 This is a very nice film which makes one reflect on the progress that has been made during in the past century. I am currently resident in La Ciotat, France where it was filmed. Although I've been in La Ciotat only a few years, I've seen that it's citizens have a grand respect for these brothers. It has left a wonderful legacy for this town which has become known for its yachting industry, its "calanques" , and the "frère Lumiere". The city is actually in the process of redoing their old cinema. It is called "Eden theater" and can be found on line under the same name with ".fr" at the end. They have big plans. Its being marketed as the worlds oldest cinema.

Rodrigo Amaro "Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat" is often called the first film ever made. Actually it's not the first, there are a few others film experiences previous to this, brothers August and Louis Lumière directed others along with this, and if I'm not wrong there is one directed in 1892 but this is the landmark of movies, the fundamental stone of everything we know about cinema. The first short film, the first documentary film and believe me the first horror movie ever made! What is "Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat"? It is an one minute film with a steam train arriving at a station full of people. It's filmed on a single take, no editing, no sound and with a grainy image. The major effect it might cause in the nostalgic viewer is to see a fragment of life in 1896 captured on film and realize that the movies were born here with this simple short film. For those who are more exigent it doesn't cause any impact and to these people it's just an image on the screen. And what about those who watched in 1896? The legend says that on the first session where this film was showed people simply just ran away from their seats believing that the train would cross the screen and hit everyone. With these realism so unusual at that time Lumière brothers created here the first horror movie. This is not only my word on the subject, there was a famous magazine that selected this film as being one of the 10 greatest horror films of all time. Okay, it's not shocking and scary now, but after watching it if you remember this story you're gonna laugh about it. I can't believe that this precious gem wasn't included in the book "1001 Movies You Should watch Before Die" and no representants from the 1800's were selected (okay, movies started to be made after 1895 but still needed at least one film in the book). Without this film you don't have anything. You don't have the enthusiasm about movies after all a few filmmaking experiences were made before that but this was the film people talked about it claiming to be as the first film ever made. The first experience of word-of-mouth; this first scary and realistic experience; many things came after this film.Don't be sad thinking that this film is lost and you will not watch it. Go to YouTube and enjoy it, after all it's a public domain. Again, it is a fragment of a different time and it's very important that it was filmed and registered for any audiences in any time. It's the same significance of the Bible for the books, a landmark, a path for which everything was made. Brilliant! 10/10

tavm Among the preserved films in the "Saved from the Flames" DVD collection was this early August and Louis Lumiere clip that simply depicted a train arriving with the passengers getting off unaware they're being filmed with their faces about to be immortalized for future film archivists. According to legend, first-time audiences fled their seats (if not the theatre) thinking the train was going to come after them! While I've no doubt some truth was in that statement concerning less sophisticated viewers, I'm also sure many of them were aware it was just a moving picture projection and just sat down for some entertainment. Anyway, this 1-minute short is worth a look as historical artifact.

ackstasis There doesn't seem to be anything particularly exciting about an approaching steam locomotive, but somehow this image has stuck, the first iconic scene in cinematic history. Produced by pioneering French filmmakers Auguste and Louis Lumière, 'L' Arrivée d'un train à La Ciotat / Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat' was filmed at La Ciotat, Bouches-du-Rhône, France on December 28, 1895 and first screened to a paying audience on January 6, 1896. The 50-second long film, like most other Lumière shorts, successfully captures a brief snippet of everyday life, chronicling the gradual approach of the train, its slow to a halt, and the disembarkment of its passengers.For many years, there has been an enduring myth than, upon the first screening of the film, the audience was so overwhelmed by the image of the train bearing down upon them that they fled the room in terror. This has been shown to be something of an embellishment, and, though the film would undoubtedly have astounded and mesmerised audiences, there was never any real mass panic. French scientist Henri de Parville, who attended an early screening, is said to have written: "The animated photographs are small marvels. ...All is incredibly real. What a power of illusion! ...The streetcars, the carriages are moving towards the audience. A carriage was galloping in our direction. One of my neighbors was so much captivated that she sprung to her feet... and waited until the car disappeared before she sat down again." This, I think, adequately sums up how remarkable the film must have seemed back in 1896.Auguste and Louis Lumière obviously recognised the power of illusion offered by their Cinématographe. In order to maximise the shock value of the approaching train, they have mounted the camera as close as possible to the edge of the platform, so that the audience feels as if they are almost standing right in the locomotive's path. The people departing from the train are just normal citizens going about their day (several Lumière relatives, however, can be spied on the platform), enhancing the realism of the short. Cinema does not get much more memorable than this.