The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat
L'arrivée d'un train à La Ciotat (1896)
Production
Director
Producer
Actors
Madeleine Koehler
herself
Marcel Koehler
himself
Marguerite Lumière
herself
Jeanne-Joséphine Lumière
herself
Rose Lumière
herself
Suzanne Lumière
herself
Short description
A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.
What's left behind the scenes
- Contrary to popular belief (which even made its way into a Soviet textbook on the history of foreign cinema), this film was not shown at the famous first paid cinema screening in Paris in the basement of the 'Grand Café' on Boulevard des Capucines.
- Fragments of this film were included in the Soviet movie "The Man from Boulevard des Capucines," which ironically reflects the history of early cinema.
- The film is mentioned in an article by Maxim Gorky (published under the pseudonym "M. Pacatus") concerning the first cinema screenings organized by Charles Omon at the Nizhny Novgorod Fair: "And suddenly something clicks, everything vanishes, and a railway train appears on the screen. It rushes like an arrow straight at you—look out! It seems as if it is about to plunge into the darkness where you sit, and turn you into a torn leather bag full of mangled meat and crushed bones, and destroy, turn into debris and dust this hall and this building, where there is so much wine, women, music, and vice."
- The film was shot in 1895 and first screened in the grand hall on January 6, 1896. On May 6 of the following year, the film was shown in Moscow at the Solodovnikov Theatre.
- In the Lumière trading house catalog, the film is listed as No. 653.
- The film was referenced in Martin Scorsese's movie 'Hugo'.
- The film was remade in anaglyphic stereo format in 1934 by Louis Lumière himself.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
