A train arrives at a train station. That is the entire short film here. But back then it must have seemed like magic to see actual moving pictures on a screen so I guess they didn't use to need more than that ha ha.

A 50-second film by the Lumiere Brothers, one of the first films ever shown to a paying audience. A train arrives at La Ciotat station.Obviously this film is not significant for its plot, or action scenes or character depth. This is an iconic film in the history of cinema, significant because it was made. Only a handful of films had been made to that point and Auguste and Louis Lumiere, pioneers in the art and technology of film, used all their knowledge and expertise in making this film.It may not seem much today but we wouldn't have the blockbusters of today if it wasn't for people like Auguste and Louis Lumiere and films like 'The Arrival of a Train'.

"Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat" is often called the first film ever made. Actually it's not the first, there are a few others film experiences previous to this, brothers August and Louis Lumière directed others along with this, and if I'm not wrong there is one directed in 1892 but this is the landmark of movies, the fundamental stone of everything we know about cinema. The first short film, the first documentary film and believe me the first horror movie ever made! What is "Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat"? It is an one minute film with a steam train arriving at a station full of people. It's filmed on a single take, no editing, no sound and with a grainy image. The major effect it might cause in the nostalgic viewer is to see a fragment of life in 1896 captured on film and realize that the movies were born here with this simple short film. For those who are more exigent it doesn't cause any impact and to these people it's just an image on the screen. And what about those who watched in 1896? The legend says that on the first session where this film was showed people simply just ran away from their seats believing that the train would cross the screen and hit everyone. With these realism so unusual at that time Lumière brothers created here the first horror movie. This is not only my word on the subject, there was a famous magazine that selected this film as being one of the 10 greatest horror films of all time. Okay, it's not shocking and scary now, but after watching it if you remember this story you're gonna laugh about it. I can't believe that this precious gem wasn't included in the book "1001 Movies You Should watch Before Die" and no representants from the 1800's were selected (okay, movies started to be made after 1895 but still needed at least one film in the book). Without this film you don't have anything. You don't have the enthusiasm about movies after all a few filmmaking experiences were made before that but this was the film people talked about it claiming to be as the first film ever made. The first experience of word-of-mouth; this first scary and realistic experience; many things came after this film.Don't be sad thinking that this film is lost and you will not watch it. Go to YouTube and enjoy it, after all it's a public domain. Again, it is a fragment of a different time and it's very important that it was filmed and registered for any audiences in any time. It's the same significance of the Bible for the books, a landmark, a path for which everything was made. Brilliant! 10/10

Among the preserved films in the "Saved from the Flames" DVD collection was this early August and Louis Lumiere clip that simply depicted a train arriving with the passengers getting off unaware they're being filmed with their faces about to be immortalized for future film archivists. According to legend, first-time audiences fled their seats (if not the theatre) thinking the train was going to come after them! While I've no doubt some truth was in that statement concerning less sophisticated viewers, I'm also sure many of them were aware it was just a moving picture projection and just sat down for some entertainment. Anyway, this 1-minute short is worth a look as historical artifact.