FILM NOTES


FILM NOTES INDEX


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Automatic Moving Company

(French, 1912, 5 minutes, b&w, silent, 16mm)

Rarely seen, The Automatic Moving Company (1912) is one of the most technically accomplished early stop-action films now known. Reminiscent of the magical inventiveness of Melies and the Lumiere brothers, the film, only five minutes long, shows a horseless, motorless moving wagon taking in the contents of a furnished house. Not much is know about the makers of this cheerful film, but their painstaking work of moving bureaus and dressers or plates and spoons, fractions of inches, photographing, then moving again, then photographing again, at roughly ten shots per second of film, has left audiences universally delighted and grateful for their efforts.

— Donald Faulkner, NYS Writers Institute

For additional information, contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620 or online at https://www.albany.edu/writers-inst.