Neuville-sur-Saône: Débarquement du congrès des photographes à Lyon (1895)

Director:

Louis Lumière

Genre:

Documentary | Short

Plot:

Another milestone in film history - this may well have been the very first film to have been developed...

Plot Keywords:

Convention | Pier

Cast

  (Credited cast)

P.J.C. Janssen

...

Himself

Also Known As:

Arrivée des congressistes à Neuville-sur-Saône (France) (alternative title)
Congrès des sociétés photographiques de France
Débarquement
Le débarquement du congrès de photographie à Lyon (France) (alternative title)
The Photographical Congress Arrives in Lyon (USA)

Runtime:

1 min

Country:

France

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Lyon, Rhône, Rhône-Alpes, France

Company:

Lumière

Only to be watched for its place in cinema history

I watched this film on a DVD that was rammed with short films from the period. I didn't watch all of them as the main problem with these type of things that their value is more in their historical novelty value rather than entertainment. So to watch them you do need to be put in the correct context so that you can keep this in mind and not watch it with modern eyes. With the Primitives & Pioneers DVD collection though you get nothing to help you out, literally the films are played one after the other (the main menu option is "play all") for several hours. With this it is hard to understand their relevance and as an educational tool it falls down as it leaves the viewer to fend for themselves, which I'm sure is fine for some viewers but certainly not the majority. What it means is that the DVD saves you searching the web for the films individually by putting them all in one place – but that's about it.

Anyway onto this film which is as the title suggests, lots of people getting off a boat. This is essentially a rerun of the Lumière film that saw lots of people leaving a factory and it is as exciting. The only thing that did make it interesting to me was the people in question react differently from those leaving the works in the other film. Maybe it is to do with their class, or maybe they are more savvy about cameras or maybe they are just told to do this but some wave, smile etc – a reaction you would get today but interesting to see it then when such a thing was very much a novelty.

Other than this point of interest though, I found the film to be what it now is – a historical novelty that can only be seen as such.