Directed by Auguste & Louis Lumière

Position on the list (at time of viewing): 824

The first movie in what will be a very long series of reviews, this film is barely a movie, so it’s very hard to criticize or say much about it. It’s obvious how terrifying this must have been at the time; it’s easy to imagine people fleeing the theater in terror (which may or may not be an apocryphal tale). It’s about a minute long, and it’s exactly what it says on the tin: a train arrives at a station. Aaaand that’s about it.

Contrary to what many think, this wasn’t actually one of the first films ever shown. The Lumière brothers had done an entire showcase in late 1895, and this film didn’t appear in that showcase. This, however, is the first one that people remembered. The film is most famous for an apocryphal story about how people panicked at the sight of a train approaching in the film, running from the screen. No one really knows if it’s true or not, as there are many conflicting stories about its first showings, but it’s certainly fun to think about.

The movie is clearly a technical marvel, which is the reason it shows up on these lists. Moreso than any of the previous experimenters in the medium, the Lumière brothers understood the basics of camera placement. Those (supposed) panics the film brought on were obviously intentional. Although slow by modern standards, the train really does appear to come right at the camera, and that simply hadn’t been done before. Everything in the way the shot is composed is designed to impress the arrival of the train upon the viewer, so people may well have been at least a little uneasy about it.

Honestly, there’s really not that much to say here, and there’s really no reason not to check the movie out, since it’s not exactly a huge investment in terms of time. Pull it up on Youtube and examine a piece of cinematic history. It’s a perfectly fine time that’s about as long as some commercials.

Overall: