This Lumiere film just has to be staged: how could a cameraman just happen to find a scene of a snowball fight AND be carrying his camera also? And, remember that in many of the Bros' documentaries people would often notice the camera and either duck or act hammy. Here nobody couldn't care less that they were being filmed and they are merely having fun.The short documents a snowball fight. There are no teams: everyone aims their snowballs at anyone and everyone. Already watching this is decent entertainment but then a cyclist enters the scene and falls off his bike while being pelted with snowballs. This adds a bit of plot and also makes us wonder if this bit was staged. Yes, it is likely the fight was staged, but would someone actually be pelted with snowballs just for a camera? Maybe. Either way, it is interesting to watch and would've been considerably more entertaining than seeing workers leaving a factory for early audiences. Even today this would be a watchable movie because of the fun subject.

Bataille de neige (1897) This fifty second film from Louis Lumiere has a group of people throwing snowballs in the street. At first they're not aimed at anyone but soon a man comes along riding a bicycle. BATAILLE DE NEIGE is one of the best known films from Lumiere, which is easy to understand why since the image of people throwing snowballs is just downright fun. Even when viewing this film today you can't help but watch it with a smile as it's clear everyone is having a good time and we're given a twist with a minor subplot involving the bicycle rider. Yes, it's certainly nothing special by today's standards but for 1897 it offers something more than just one thing playing out.

Looks like everybody depicted here is having quite a fun time. Good for them. The kids join in. The men and women join in despite their heavy dresses and a cyclist passing by gets the full punishment. Nonetheless, these 45 seconds made a funny watch. It's basically everybody against everybody and nobody's crying because he got hit and everybody releases their inner child for once. No plot or storyline are involved, it's simply a documentary of a day in the snow, possibly the first winter day of the year looking at how happy everybody is. Poor guys who, in contrast to the ones in Lyon depicted here, live in areas where it never snows. they don't know what they're missing. Okay short-film by Lumière.

This brief footage of a snowball fight is both fun and funny. It gives a convincing appearance of spontaneity, but at the same time the camera field catches so much that it seems quite likely that at least some planning was involved. In either case, it's one of the lightest and most amusing of the early Lumière features.The participants include both men and women, most of them rather nicely dressed. Watching adults unashamedly romping around like this is good fun, and it's hard not to think of Laurel and Hardy or other similar performers. Indeed, the bicyclist who happens onto the scene would have fit right in as a character in a Laurel and Hardy comedy.As you expect with Lumière, the photography is good, but this time it is the amusing antics that will make this one memorable.