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Man Walking Around a Corner

1887 Documentary Approximately 2-3 seconds (though the original may have been longer) Directed by Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince

"A man rounds a corner in one of cinema's first frames."

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About this film

In 1887, the last remaining production of Le Prince's LPCC Type-16 (16-lens camera) is part of a gelatine film shot in 32 images/second, and pictures a man walking around a corner. Le Prince, who was in Leeds (UK) at that time, sent these images to his wife in New York City in a letter dated 18 August 1887.

Cast & crew

Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince Director
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About the production

Release dateAugust 1887 (based on the letter date to Le Prince's wife)
Box officeNo commercial release - this was an experimental film not shown to paying audiences
ProductionLouis Le Prince's personal workshop/experimental studio
Filmed inLeeds, England - believed to be near the Leeds Bridge or in the surrounding area

Shot using Le Prince's LPCC Type-16 camera, which had 16 lenses arranged in a circular pattern. The camera captured 16 images simultaneously on a single sheet of film, with each lens taking a picture at a slightly different angle. The film was shot at approximately 32 images per second, a relatively high frame rate for the time. Le Prince developed this camera himself as part of his experiments in motion picture technology. The surviving fragment is part of a longer sequence that was sent to Le Prince's wife in New York in a letter dated August 18, 1887.

Historical background

Released in 1887, Man Walking Around a Corner reached audiences during the earliest projected-film era, when exhibition and production norms differed sharply from today's.

Why this film matters

Man Walking Around a Corner remains viewable through digital archives, preserving 1887 screen culture for modern audiences.

What critics said

Later retrospectives treat Man Walking Around a Corner (1887) as representative the earliest projected-film era fare valued by archivists and genre historians.

Did you know?

  • This is one of the earliest surviving motion pictures in existence, predating the more famous works of the Lumière brothers and Thomas Edison by several years.
  • Louis Le Prince is often called the 'Father of Cinematography' despite his mysterious disappearance before he could commercialize his inventions.
  • The LPCC Type-16 camera used to film this was a revolutionary device that captured multiple images simultaneously, a precursor to modern motion picture technology.
  • Le Prince sent this film to his wife in New York as part of a letter dated August 18, 1887, making it possibly the first film sent through international mail.
  • The man in the film is believed to be Adolphe Le Prince, Louis's son, though this has not been definitively confirmed.
  • Louis Le Prince mysteriously disappeared in 1890 while traveling from Dijon to Paris, and his body was never found, adding to the intrigue surrounding his pioneering work.
  • This film predates Edison's Kinetoscope (1891) and the Lumière brothers' first public screening (1895), making it one of the earliest examples of moving image capture.
  • The 16-lens camera was an intermediate step in Le Prince's development of motion picture technology, which would eventually lead to a single-lens camera.
  • The film was shot on paper film coated with gelatin and silver bromide, an early form of photographic film that preceded celluloid.
  • Only fragments of Le Prince's work survive, with '

Where to watch

  • Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Man%20Walking%20Around%20A%20Corner.gif