L’Arroseur Arrosé (1895) Director: Louis Lumière

Also called the “The Sprinkler Sprinkled” in English, L’Arroseur Arrosé is a short (45 second) silent film by Louis Lumière. As with many early silent films it has carried many different names. It was initially screened in 1895. The film is quick gag picture in which a young boy plays a prank on an older man by stepping on a hose being used to water his garden, only to release it moments later allowing the water to spray in the man’s face. It is one of the earliest examples of narrative film and it was shot using Lumière’s Cinematographe. It inspired numerous knock-off films, as early copyright laws that were not yet established with regard to films. Georges Méliès remade the film, and years later François Truffaut paid homage to the gag in Les Mistons in 1958.

Since the film is less than one minute in length and is important merely for its place in the early history of cinema, I decided not to review it.