8mm Forum: Lumiere got it wrong

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Topic: Lumiere got it wrong

Robert Crewdson
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1031
From: UK
Registered: Jun 2013

posted June 27, 2013 12:21 PM

When the Lumiere brothers were filming workers leaving a factory, and a train pulling into a station, they believed that motion pictures were a novelty that viewers would soon tire off; how wrong they were.

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Hugh Thompson Scott
Film God

Posts: 3063
From: Gt. Clifton,Cumbria,England
Registered: Jan 2012

posted June 27, 2013 12:34 PM

How true Robert, if they had turned their hand to efficient Rail
Travel in the UK, it might have paid off.

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Pasquale DAlessio
Film God

Posts: 3523
From: Bristol,RI, USA
Registered: May 2010

posted June 27, 2013 01:07 PM

But I think rail service in the UK is still in a much larger service than USA. And more interesting to ride. When visiting relatives in Crawley I love to take the old train to London. The old depot is a treat in itself to see.

PatD

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Osi Osgood
Film God

Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005

posted June 27, 2013 01:13 PM

I entirely agree Passquale. I mena, look at Amtrak, which has been so downsized in general in the US.

--------------------
"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "

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Hugh Thompson Scott
Film God

Posts: 3063
From: Gt. Clifton,Cumbria,England
Registered: Jan 2012

posted June 27, 2013 01:16 PM

Hi Pat, I'm just going by the fact,on my last trip to London, I had
to sit in the gangway,on two trips to Manchester, I stood all the way
there and partway back.Apart from the fact that if you want to travel anywhere,you must book well in advance to take advantage of "cheap rates",it's a travesty.How people that commute can afford the extortionate fares charged is beyond me.

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Robert Crewdson
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1031
From: UK
Registered: Jun 2013

posted June 27, 2013 04:49 PM

I think the Beeching cuts of the 60s destroyed one third of the network. At one time you bought a ticket and could use it on any train, now you have peak and off peak fares. I wasn't in favour of nationalisation but British railways was better than what we have now. I worked for British Rail in the 70s.

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Michael O'Regan
Film God

Posts: 3085
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Oct 2007

posted June 27, 2013 05:11 PM

quote:
And more interesting to ride.

I found the short trip from Grand Central Station, NY, to Larchmont, NY to be more interesting than any trainride I've ever had in the UK.
It's subjective, isn't it.

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Dominique De Bast
Film God

Posts: 4486
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jun 2013

posted June 28, 2013 01:20 AM

Hello Robert. Some historians say that the Lumière brothers were so confident in their new invention that they tried to discourage competitors like Melies. So they refused to sell to him a camera and told him that it would be futureless, but it seems that it was not what they actually though.

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Dominique

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Robert Crewdson
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1031
From: UK
Registered: Jun 2013

posted June 28, 2013 04:41 AM

Hello Dominique, nice to meet you, I could never understand how anyone could think motion pictures had no value. I was thinking more about the family history side; instead of looking at a still image of your grandparents or great grandparents, wouldn't it be wonderful to see a moving image of them.

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Richard Bock
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 239
From: El Cerrito,CA,USA
Registered: Jan 2010

posted June 28, 2013 10:25 AM

"But I think rail service in the UK is still in a much larger service than USA."

ours are not nearly as prevalent as that in the UK for long distance travel or rural locations.

From Griffith's- A Girl and Her Trust (exciting train movie)-Super 8mm Blackhawk

Mack Sennett's- Love, Loot and Crash-8mm Blackhawk

[Cool]

[ June 28, 2013, 04:56 PM: Message edited by: Richard Bock ]

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Jonathan Trevithick
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 569
From: Gold Coast Australia
Registered: May 2012

posted June 30, 2013 07:11 AM

Off topic but....If it hadn't been for my ancestor, there wouldn't have been a rail service in the UK...or anywhere!

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Robert Crewdson
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1031
From: UK
Registered: Jun 2013

posted June 30, 2013 07:43 AM

Richard Trevithick. I am a railway fan as well. I think the Surrey Iron Railway was earlier, the tracks were laid in 1802, but it was not for carrying passengers.

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Hugh Thompson Scott
Film God

Posts: 3063
From: Gt. Clifton,Cumbria,England
Registered: Jan 2012

posted June 30, 2013 08:51 AM

True, but Trevithick's was the first working steam railway to carry passengers,long before
"The Rocket",if I remember it was an entertainment called "Catch Me Who Can" and ran on a circular track, and at least on trains in those days, it was possible to get a seat!

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Jonathan Trevithick
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 569
From: Gold Coast Australia
Registered: May 2012

posted June 30, 2013 05:09 PM

Robert,I wouldn't be going down Cambourne way, saying that m'dear!
Hugh, you are mostly right and there is a picture of Trevithick's engine/passenger ride over the opening credits of "The Titfield Thunderbolt". That was in 1808.
Previously, he built a road locomotive in 1801.
However, the world's first rail passenger locomotive was built by Trevithick and ran up in Merthyr Tydfil in 1804, also carrying iron.

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