As one of the commentators rightly points out, La Sortie des usines Lumière was filmed before this was. That was a rather tame (okay ... boring) movie compared to this exciting movie.
Alas, contrary to what another commentator said, this is not a "special effects" film -- none of the action was staged for the production.
"Period. Comma. Shift key. They are your friends. Learn to love them."
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I don't think anybody argues this is their first film. People just say this is the first celluloid projection shown commercially. Although that has recently been dissproven. It was actually this... "A public showing of a four-minute film takes place in a storefront at 153 Broadway, New York on May 20 of this year (1895). It was a boxing match which had been filmed by Woodville Latham and his sons Otway and Grey. The staged fight had been filmed on the roof of Madison Square Garden. The boxers were known as 'Young Griffo' and 'Battling Barnett'. When asked by son Otway Latham whether a scene could be projected on a screen like in the Kinetoscope parlours, father Woodville answered, "You can project anything on a screen that you can see with the naked eye and which can be photographed."" - http://www.acmi.net.au/AIC/LATHAM_BIO.html
shareI think it's risen in culture due to the storied impact on its audience, in that it showed how movies could emote an audience.
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