Harvard Film Archives To Show World's Oldest Movies In Series

Harvard students will have a chance to see history repeat itself tomorrow at the Carpenter Center with the screening of about 10 short documentaries produced by the Lumiere Brothers.

The short films, which were the first group of motion pictures ever shown to a public audience, premiered at the Indian Saloon in the basement of Paris's Grand Cafe in 1895.

The Harvard Film Archives will try to recreate the mystique of that first screening nearly 100 years ago by showing unedited, original copies of the films, said Vladmir K. Petric, curator of the film institute.

The Lumiere shorts, which will be followed by the 1920s film "Nanook of the North," mark the beginning of a series on the evolution of the documentary that can be seen every Wednesday this fall.

The most famous of the Lumiere films to be shown tomorrow is "Arrive d'un Train en Gare," which depicts the arrival of a train at the French town of Ciotat. When the film was first shown, members of the audience believed the train would actually hit them.

Other footage includes Madame Lumiere sitting with her baby, pictures of workers at the Lumiere's Lyon factory, and a boy playing a prank on a gardener. Most of the films run about a minute or two, the maximumlength technology permitted at that time.

"In watching the films, there is something soplayful about them," said Visiting Lecturer andfilm expert Robb Moss. Moss said modern audienceswill enjoy the films because they are morepersonal and spontaneous than films being producednow.

"The Lumiere brothers had a good time, and thefilms show that," Moss said.

Harvard film experts said the movies areimportant because they constitute the birth ofcinema and demonstrate the two major genres of themedium--realism and illusion.

"We're showing the same program as the firstaudience saw," said Petric, who teaches Visual andEnvironmental Studies (VES) 157r, "Classics ofWorld Cinema."

The archives will not use the originalprojector, which was also the camera with whichthe films were shot, but equipment speciallydesigned for the films with a different number ofperforations per frame and a different width thanmodern films, Petric said. The films will also notbe hand cranked, as the originals were.

The Lumiere brothers thought of their inventiononly as a curiosity, said Alfred F. Guzzetti,chairman of VES. "Louis Lumiere thought it was anovelty that would pass," Guzzetti said.

Louis Lumiere even once commented, "Cinema isan invention without a future," Guzzetti added.

Assistant Professor of VES Linda Podheiserprovided one possible explanation for theLumieres' short sightedness. "Very quickly peoplebegan to recognize the narrative possibilitiesthat the Lumieres did not," she said. But, shesaid, within five years after the first screeningin Paris, the film industry was well on its way tobecoming a permanent establishment.

And because the two French brothers were thefirst in the movement, they established the Frenchas pioneers in the industry, Podheiser said. TheFrench film industry lost its position at thevanguard during the First World War when theGermans devastated the French economy.

The Lumieres, whose family owned a photographyfactory in Lyons, modified an earlier invention ofThomas Edison, the kinetograph, inventing a muchmore portable camera than the American inventor's.Although Edison produced motion pictures with hisunwieldy machine, he did not show them to thepublic because "he did not want to sell the goosethat lays the golden eggs," Petric said.

After achieving initial success with theirshorts, the brothers sent cameramen around theglobe to bring the world back to the people athome.

They are credited with setting the standard offilm speed at 16 frames per second. This standardwas changed only when the introduction of soundfilm necessitated a faster pace. The two brothersare also credited with coining the term"cinematographe," from which the word "cinema"comes.

The films will be shown at 5:30 and 8:00 p.m.tomorrow at Room B-04 of the Carpenter Center.Tickets cost $3.00