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- MAGIC PICTURE -- THE TRAIN
- by Dave Moorman
-
-
- Thomas Edison claimed to have
- invented the motion picture, but in
- France, the Pathe brothers also came
- up with a simular device. After an
- excruciating patent war, the various
- inventers discovered that the one
- unique feature in all motion picture
- cameras and projectors was the "Latham
- Loop," that loop above and below the
- picture gate that allows the smoothly
- rolling file to stop for a fraction of
- a second while the image is captured
- or projected.
-
- Without the loop, everything would
- be a blur. During the early days of
- Hollywood, cameramen would never open
- their cameras in the open, on the
- chance that a spy from the Patent
- Group would be there and see the Loop
- -- and insist on royalties from the
- film.
-
- Anyway -- while Edison was filming
- The Kiss, Pathe created a much more
- exciting film of a train passing by.
- Audiences were amazed, rushing from
- the theatre as the train rushed
- towards them. Movies were just too
- real!
-
- This little clip is of a modern
- freight train thundering down the
- track -- created in homage to the work
- of the Pathe brothers. The resolution
- is scratchy and jumpy -- not unlike
- the original movie.
-
- DMM
-
-
-