Ramona Curry wonders about my motives in soliciting suggestions for

movies about movies. Okay, I'll come clean. December 28, 1895 marks the

hundredth anniversary of the earliest commercial exhibition of motion

pictures. For those without a handy history of the cinema, it was in

Paris, by the Lumiere brothers, at the Grand Cafe on the Boulevard des

Capucines. Edison's show at Koster & Biall's Music Hall was four months

later.

 

Perhaps it's because my office is about half a mile from where Muybridge

did his horsing around, but there are historical events that deserve

celebration, and I thought that it might be useful to structure a course

and a year-long weekly film series around the how the cinema (literally) views

itself. Thus my request, and the requirement of literalism.

 

Lots of great suggestions have arrived, although I can think of several

films that haven't been suggested. I promise to put together an

alphabetical list of all entries and send it down the Email line as a

New Year's celebration of movies...films...cinema.

 

 

-Henry Breitrose