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The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures
The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures: A True Tale of Obsession, Murder and the Movies | Paul Fischer
1 post | 2 read | 1 to read
Louis Le Prince invented the motion picture in 1890. He applied for, and was granted, patents in four countries. And then, a month before unveiling it to the world...he disappeared. And was never seen again. Three years later, Le Prince's invention was finally made public - by a man who claimed to have invented it himself. The man's name was Thomas Edison. This book is the story of the birth of motion pictures, restoring the father of the invention to his rightful place in history.
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The intriguing story of Louis Le Prince who spent the final years of the 1880s working on a way to capture & show moving images. After several years of being parted from his family (who were living in New York) whilst he toiled in England, Le Prince was finally ready to unveil his invention but first took a trip to see his brother & family back in France. Following the visit, Le Prince boarded the train from Dijon to Paris & was never seen again.

OutsmartYourShelf As he was reported as missing & no body was ever found, his family could not take over his patents for 7 years & had to sit & watch others claim the prize for themselves. Edison himself debuted his invention only a few months after Le Prince's disappearance, & Le Prince's family began to wonder if something nefarious had befallen their relative. 12mo
OutsmartYourShelf I must admit I'd not heard of Louis Le Prince at all before seeing this book but, like most people, I love a good real life mystery. The author obviously did lots of research on the subject, & sometimes it can get a little bogged down in the details, but it was mostly a fascinating read. 12mo
OutsmartYourShelf The only issue I have is that the narrative spends 90% of its time positioning itself to ask whether Edison was involved - only to pivot at the last minute & offer up another suspect (one that I suspected myself to be honest). It's a shame that we will never know the truth of what happened. 4🌟

Full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4911184361

Read 30th Apr - 2nd May 2023
12mo
26 likes3 comments