Dragoons Crossing the Sâone

This is an approximately 45-second long Lumiere Brothers actuality (Lumiere No. 186) of dragoons crossing the Sâone River on horseback to meet up with a "camp" on the other side.

I don't know much of the historical background of this actuality, but it looks like the dragoons and camp may be in this section of the Sâone River, which is in the northeast of France, to build a bridge. We can see the makings of a bridge in the upper right hand portion of the frame.

Aesthetically, there is a hint of visual composition that is found in many Lumiere Brothers shorts--the crossing dragoons suggest an oblique from the right hand side of the frame towards the upper left. Dragoons Crossing the Sâone also has what we could call "processional" action, another common Lumiere Brothers characteristic, which is often cyclical, but it's more linear here. The oblique is obscure at first as the short begins with only four dragoons who make it halfway across the Sâone River before seven more follow in the processional and make the oblique clear.

Also interesting are the twenty-something people in the camp on the far shore of the river. They stand relatively motionless, apparently waiting for the dragoons to arrive. Many of them have suits on, which seems strange if they're either in the military or a construction crew.

For me, this short isn't nearly as rewarding aesthetically as some of the Lumiere Brothers' other work. It has a fair amount of historical and novelty value, however.

This feature combines the interesting sight of a group of dragoons crossing a river with some good photography that adds some detail in the background. The detail and the angle from which the action is filmed work well in making you feel almost as if you were watching from the water's edge.

The sight of the river crossing is interesting, at least if you are not used to seeing that kind of maneuver. It even creates just a little suspense when you notice how deep the water is, and how far the horses and riders are submerged.

It's also at least mildly interesting to watch the activity in the camp on the far shore during the crossing. Sometimes these very early films are surprising in their ability to catch so much, long before the days of 'deep focus' cinematography.

Dragons traversant la Saône à la nage (1896)

This Lumiere film runs just under a minute and shows us various horses crossing a river. If you're looking for some sort of plot or action then you've obviously never seen a movie from this era. This film is mainly going to appeal to those who enjoy watching these early films as there's some nice camera-work here and for the most part it's entertaining enough in its own way. I think the most fascinating thing when watching these movies is that it at least gives you a good idea of certain things from 1896. I always enjoy watching these films just to see what people were really wearing during this time.

Like all the first short films made for the Lumière Company 'Dragons Traversant la Saône à la Nage' is interesting to watch simply because it belongs to the first real films ever made. Films like these should be seen for their historical value. May be they are not entertaining but they are part of what started it all, leading to 'The Birth of a Nation', 'Citizen Kane', 'À Bout de Soufflé', 'The Godfather' and 'The Lord of the Rings'-trilogy. For just 45 seconds of film, these pieces of cinema might even surprise you.

Here we get a stationary camera watching over the Saône river in France while a couple of dragoons cross it. It seems that people on the other shore are waiting for them to arrive because they are not doing all that much. Things like that just don't happen anymore, another aspect that makes these shorts made over a hundred years ago so interesting. This may not be the best of all those Lumière shorts out there, but it has enough value to appreciate it very much.

In this short (as always) Lumiere documentary we see several dragoons on horses swimming across the Saone river to a military camp. We never actually see them land on the shore, since the short is only about 50 seconds or less, but we do see them nearing the other side before the film runs out. So maybe it's not as interesting as other ones from Lumiere, but remember, this is life from over a hundred and twenty years ago. Don't forget that. Even when you see the most boring actualities from the Lumiere Brothers, always remember, this is life from over a century ago. Without this film we would never know that this had even happened, much less would we be able to witness it later in the 21st century.