Probably the funniest of the early comedies, this is a delightful example of complacent metropolitan snobbery. A jovial rustic stands beside a cinema screen showing some of the early Lumiere classics, mugging incessantly, laughing at the pictures. It is unclear who he is, whether a bumptious local entrepeneur bringing the new cosmopolitan marvel to the provinces, or a drunken yokel showing off to his mates. Either way, he soon gets his comeuppance as 'Arrivee d'un train' appears, and, like those legendary early audiences, the sight of a hurtling locomotive, seemingly ready to burst off the screen and run him over, makes him flee in terror. If he IS a drunk, the sight must be even more frightening.
The joke has a number of purposes. While country audiences are still getting excited about primitive films from the last century like 'Train' (an ancient half decade old!), new directors are developing a sophisticated intellectual grammar. The bumpkins' monomania is signalled not only by their gullibility, but by their watching a single frame recording a single scene, leading the innocents to mistake representation for reality.
THIS film, however, is full of clever self-reflexivity, featuring frames within frames, films within films, asking the audience watching a film to watch an audience watching a film. In this, it is a precursor to 'House of Wax' and Godard - it foregrounds the nature of cinema, it asks us to recognise that there is a technical apparatus between the audience and the film's content, and maybe even consider the implications of this.
It is also guiltily funny: maybe not guilty, the braggart takes a fall. Although maybe we're the fools - we've lost that initial spark of wonder about the cinema that seems to have worn off incredibly quickly. Contrary to popular belief, audiences cottoned on very soon. This kind of inquiry, of course, would be stamped out with the coming of Hollywood regimentation, but the early silent era would be full of questioning pleasures like this.
The joke has a number of purposes. While country audiences are still getting excited about primitive films from the last century like 'Train' (an ancient half decade old!), new directors are developing a sophisticated intellectual grammar. The bumpkins' monomania is signalled not only by their gullibility, but by their watching a single frame recording a single scene, leading the innocents to mistake representation for reality.
THIS film, however, is full of clever self-reflexivity, featuring frames within frames, films within films, asking the audience watching a film to watch an audience watching a film. In this, it is a precursor to 'House of Wax' and Godard - it foregrounds the nature of cinema, it asks us to recognise that there is a technical apparatus between the audience and the film's content, and maybe even consider the implications of this.
It is also guiltily funny: maybe not guilty, the braggart takes a fall. Although maybe we're the fools - we've lost that initial spark of wonder about the cinema that seems to have worn off incredibly quickly. Contrary to popular belief, audiences cottoned on very soon. This kind of inquiry, of course, would be stamped out with the coming of Hollywood regimentation, but the early silent era would be full of questioning pleasures like this.