Roundhay Garden Scene (1888)

The Worst Film Ever

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

This two seconds of film is thought to be the very first motion picture, using Louis Le Prince's single-lens camera and Eastman's paper film. It features the earliest born (but not the oldest) person ever to be in a film, Sarah Robinson Whitley, who was born in 1816. She was also the first person featured in a motion picture to die, as she did so just ten days after this film was made on October 24, 1888. She was Louis Le Prince's mother-in-law.Then there is the mystery surrounding Louis Le Prince's death/disappearance. He disappeared from a train in 1890, planning to make a trip to the United States to demonstrate his techniques. His body and luggage were never found, and legends surrounding his disappearance include the theory that Edison had him killed so that he could take credit for inventing the motion picture. A huge court battle ensued in the United States over that title and the right to collect royalties, first won by Edison against the Le Prince family, but then that court decision was overturned.There was actually a book written on the subject of the disappearance of Le Prince and how the pioneers of cinema were involved in all kinds of backstabbing - "The Missing Reel". I recommend it as not the best book ever written, but about the only work in writing on the subject.

Blink and it's gone. "Roundhay Garden Scene" is a 2-second (yep!) film from 1888, so it's over 125 years old. Impressive. It is black-and-white, silent and was made by Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince. Now he may not possess the popularity or fame of Georges Méliès or the most prominent other very early filmmakers, but you have to admit that he explored the entirely medium of movies way before they did. In these 2 seconds, you see a handful people and it looks like they are not exactly poor judging from the clothes they wear, I read that the people in here are actually relatives of the director, all of them or almost all of them. It's probably interesting for people who live in that area to visit the place where this was made and take a look at what it looks like today. I cannot really recommend it to general audiences, for this the contents are just too insignificant, but it's certainly worth a watch for film history buffs like myself.

If you like old movies, they don't get much older than this. If you don't like it, don't worry: It'll be over in two seconds. Ladies and gentlemen, the first movie in history is a home movie, and it was made in 1888, which I'm sure most of you already know. So... maybe you're starting to feel better about all of your old VHS home videos. Because, as I said, the first movie ever is just some guy who filmed his family. Actually, not only is it a home movie, it's a romantic comedy as well. A man walks up to a girl to ask her out(possibly), and she turns away from him, while her parents (or his parents) dance and laugh. Okay, not entirely hilarious, but what else can you do in two seconds? Anyway, this movie is great for people with short attention spans. It's simple, short, and easy to follow. And seriously, everyone who doesn't like it shouldn't complain. It's only two seconds long.Hollywood is churning out movies that are two hours long.

It's amazing what you can find in just two measly seconds of grainy film. As our lead character (I think he was the hero) starts walking to the right, where the movie eventually comes to a conclusion, you see a woman. She has a beard! And she turns as the lead character walks by her. I'd turn around as well if I was a shapely woman (check out the funbags on that hamhock!) with foot long facial hair. And to make things even worse, you got another goonball (who I think was the villain) doing the wee-wee dance around a bonnet wearing ninny. In a matter of two seconds, you see two incredible displays of humor.....now that's saying something. Or you could just look at it and think someone accidentally pressed play on the camcorder. Either or!