Synopsis

Four or five men use pickaxes and other tools to demolish a wall. After a while it collapses. Just when we thought that the workers can finally have a break the wall magically rebuilds itself. At the end of the film we find it in exactly the same spot where we first encountered it. This film from the Lumières is a classical film from that period, consisting of one take that shows a view of the world which involves a lot of movement. At the same time it differs from most of the other films by the Lumières in that it manipulates time, showing an event both forward and backward. In 1896 this was done by moving the crank of the Cinematograph forward until the end of the filmroll has been reached before moving it backward while still projecting onto the screen.

Director: Cinématographe Lumière
Country: France
Year: 1896
Production: Cinématographe Lumière
Length: 2 minutes (at 16fps)
Image/ Sound: B&W/silent
Music: none
Projection format: 35mm, 1,33:1