Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge (1888)

Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland | 1888

The first thing that strikes the spectator watching Le Prince’s Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge is the print’s clarity. It is rather impressive, as Eastman’s paper strips did not provide the advantages of celluloid, available for the first time only a year later. Yet, few early celluloid films can claim a similar photographic quality to the 20 frames showing moving traffic across the Leeds Bridge as seen from Hicks the Ironmongers in an October day in 1888.

This rather simple shot of the Yorkshire town is one of the earliest documentary evidence on the effects of urbanisation. Le Prince was interested in the location because action was never lacking, and thus it gave him enough material to test his new apparatus. Additionally, the movement on the bridge allowed the director to see whether his camera can capture accurately details shot at a distance. Both of those aims were achieved, however, it is the broader social aspect that makes the film charming, and not its technical history.

In effect, Le Prince opens up the city to a larger audience, providing a unique look at the social conditions in one of the most industrialised towns of the time. The diversity of the environment presents a world which is struggling to find its own look, beyond the blindness brought by the successes of technology and the tiredness imposed by the increased workload. This is evident in the speed of the traffic juxtaposed with the relaxed movement of a cigar-smoking gentleman, still un-accustomed to the pace of change. The social diversity of the city is further exemplified by the dress code of the people walking across the bridge: top-hats mingling with workers’ jackets.

Le Prince managed to catch the motion of a symbiosis in creation. His apparatus was not only making history for the new medium, it managed to imprint moments, which are now looked at with nostalgia and awe. Because of it, the City of Leeds can easily claim to be the embryo of the cinematic world. The 20 film frames do not just portray a town, they define the role Leeds held at the time – one of the most important British, but also European, cities that were not just enjoying the fruits of the Second Industrial Revolution, but were thriving hubs of technological development. The invention of Le Prince’s camera at the Whitley factory in Hunslet, retrospectively, is arguably as important as Charles Parsons’s steam turbine, invented in 1884. Both have been central at generating significant economic activity throughout the 20th century.

Along with Roundhay Garden Scene (1888), Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge is one of the most important films by Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince. Both of these show the imagination and ambition of a director that was to win the race of inventing an apparatus that would be capable to capture moving images that can be later projected to a larger audience – the race for the invention of film. Thankfully, what we got are not tiresome experimental works, but films that glimpse at the magic of motion pictures.

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Essential Films Awards

1888

Best Film - Whitley Partners
Best Direction - Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince
Best Cinematography - Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince

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Essential Films National Awards

1888: German Empire

Best Direction - Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince
Best Cinematography - Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince

1888: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

Best Film - Whitley Partners

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Cast & Crew

Director:
Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince

Cinematographer:
Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince

Production Company:
Whitley Partners

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Links: IMDb - Wikipedia