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