The Blacksmiths
About The Blacksmiths
A blacksmith hammers a bar on an anvil while a helper pumps the bellows. He lifts the hot iron and plunges it into a tub. Steam hides the anvil for a moment.
Cast & crew
More about The Blacksmiths
Louis Lumière directed, photographed, and produced the film, also called Les Forgerons. It was on the first paid Cinématographe program, 28 December 1895, at the Salon Indien in the Grand Café, 14 Boulevard des Capucines, Paris.
Themes
Background
The Grand Café screening on 28 December 1895 was the first show the Lumières sold to a paying public. This forge view was one number on that program.
Making
Lumière set the camera at the forge and let one heating, one hammering, and one quench play out without a cut.
Look
Louis Lumière cranked the Cinématographe on the anvil. The quench throws a cloud of steam across the frame.
Preservation
The film survives at about 40 seconds. A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- The French title is Les Forgerons.
- No players are named. The two men are the smith and the man on the bellows.
- The view runs about 40 seconds.
- It shared the Grand Café bill with other Lumière subjects shot the same year.
- A digital copy is on Wikimedia Commons as Les Forgerons (1895).
Scenes
- The helper keeps the bellows moving while the smith hammers.
- The hot bar goes into the tub and steam fills the shot.
