Louis Le Prince: How author Paul Fischer may have discovered what happened to motion picture pioneer who disappeared without trace

Just as he prepared to unveil the world’s first motion picture to the world, Louis Le Prince vanished without trace. Now an author thinks he may have found out how. Mark Casci reports.

The footage is grainy and only a couple of seconds long but the films shot by French inventor and artist Louis Le Prince in Leeds in 1888 are unmistakable.

Widely acknowledged to be the first motion pictures ever shot, Le Prince filmed his son playing an accordion, his family in the garden of a Roundhay home and traffic on Leeds Bridge.

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Le Prince had grand plans to unveil the ground-breaking innovation and cameras he invented to the world with a giant showcase in America but before he had his chance he vanished, seemingly without trace.

In September 1890 he boarded a train in the French city of Dijon, bound for Leeds, the last time he was seen alive.

Numerous theories about his disappearance have been put forth over the years. His family were convinced he was killed by American inventor Thomas Edison, often given credit for creating cinema. Others believe he started a new life somewhere unknown. Some believe family members played a role in his demise.

Author and journalist Paul Fischer has been fascinated with Le Prince for his entire adult life. In his new book The Man Who Invented Cinema: The Genius, Secrecy and Disappearance of Louis Le Prince, he puts forth his own view of how the artisan inventor may have died.

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Mr Fischer, author of an award-winning book about North Korea, has based his new work on years of research of Le Prince’s correspondence, notebooks and archives in France, the US and Britain.

Louis Le Prince, widely credited for introducing the world's first motion picture.Louis Le Prince, widely credited for introducing the world's first motion picture.
Louis Le Prince, widely credited for introducing the world's first motion picture.

Speaking to The Yorkshire Post from Alberta in Canada, he said that Le Prince’s work absolutely constituted the birth of the motion picture.

“It is demonstrable that Le Prince made the first film,” he said. “It is really hard to argue against. The film exists, the camera exists, the patents exist. But we still find it really hard to accept that it would be someone like him and not the people who we learned about at school. Historically there needs to be a patriotic element to who we choose as the inventor of something.

“The Americans, when it comes to the invention of film, they champion Edison because he is American and he represents the American spirit, while the French champion the Lumière Brothers because they represent the bourgeois idea of French education and innovation.

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“But if you are like Le Prince and are from everywhere and nowhere you do not really have a camp claiming you.”

The Blue Plaque in Leeds commemorating Le Prince's works.The Blue Plaque in Leeds commemorating Le Prince's works.
The Blue Plaque in Leeds commemorating Le Prince's works.

Yorkshire plays a key role in Le Prince’s attraction to innovation.

Mr Fischer explained: “His life’s story starts when he meets Elizabeth Whitley who was the daughter of a foundry owner in Leeds. He was very listless until he met Lizzie and then moved to Yorkshire and started working with these very creative industrialists who no longer thought of themselves as making and selling things. They thought of themselves as having to invent new things. That drove him to do the same thing.”

When Le Prince moved to Leeds he got a job working for his father-in-law Joseph Whitley, the owner of engineering giant Whitley Partners. Soon he was helping to develop steam engines and locomotive parts and was living a comfortable existence in a large house in the Roundhay area.

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On the face of it may have seemed like a relatively normal existence but under the surface Le Prince was become more motivated.

Paul Fischer, the book's author.Paul Fischer, the book's author.
Paul Fischer, the book's author.

“There was an element of rolling up your sleeves and coming up with stuff, and using technical skills and being creative,” said Mr Fischer.

“They were not just churning stuff out, they were coming up with something new.”

The new zeal that Le Prince found for his work began to translate into a serious entrepreneurial streak. His interest in images began with him firing photographs onto china to sell as commemorative plates. In time he and his family moved to New York City and it was here that the idea for motion pictures was developed.

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“He had the best suited profile to invent motion pictures but he wasn’t trained in any way, “ said Mr Fischer.

“He picked up all these interests and experiences that dovetailed. He had worked with pictures, he had worked with machinery, he had worked with big screen entertainment, he had been a painter, he had studied optics and chemistry – all of this came together in a way that is perfectly suited to invent this thing that had not been invented yet. He was one of the last great artisans.”

While he imbibed all of the excitement and energy of New York, when it came to applying his innovation it was Leeds that he turned to, heading home to shoot the first motion pictures that changed the world forever. While New York may have felt like the gateway to the future, Yorkshire was home to the infrastructure and engineering he needed to shoot the films.

Louis Le Prince's daughter Marie, pictured in Leeds with her father's works.Louis Le Prince's daughter Marie, pictured in Leeds with her father's works.
Louis Le Prince's daughter Marie, pictured in Leeds with her father's works.

Mr Fischer said that the subject matters he selected were very much based on practicality and were carefully selected to market his invention. The camera needed a great deal of light so the films had to be shot outside. The footage of his son playing the accordion showed it could be synchronised with sound. The film of his family in the garden demonstrated it could be used in a similar way to family photographs and the footage of Leeds Bridge showed that famous landmarks could be shown to a worldwide audience.

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He was all set to reveal his innovations to the world when he vanished without trace. So the obvious question for Mr Fischer, following his years of research, is what on earth happened to him? The author has little time for the conspiracy theory, initially put forth by Le Prince’s family, that Edison somehow played a role in his demise and stole his idea.

“You realise very quickly that the timelines don’t add up,” he said.

“At the time he disappeared Edison was not involved in developing motion pictures and it was not on his radar. But there are other potential suspects and situations all the way through.”

Mr Fischer was reluctant to spoil the ending of his work but has a clear belief that his death was not an accident.

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“I ended up with a theory that I felt very strongly about, and there is evidence pointing towards someone he knew personally.

“There was no indication at any point in his correspondence leading up to this death that he was suicidal or depressed. He had made plans to return to the United States which does not line up with the suicide idea.”

He added: “I dug up some stuff that as far as I can gather no one has found or connected, and the case is very strong. But it is also a case that it is much like a Netflix documentary series that you can argue over in the pub, with no definitive answer – and there probably never will be.

“It is a really rich true crime story which I didn’t expect.”

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Mr Fischer’s interest in Le Prince dates back to his late teens and he has over the years developed an affinity with him

“The more I learned about le Prince I felt a kinship with him. I was born in one country then moved to another. He had a similar story.”

The pandemic changed the tone of the book as well. Shortly before coming up with the idea for the film Le Prince was involved in the siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.

“I think the isolation was a big part of him wanting to create something that could break the isolation. Doing so many video calls felt like a really interesting way to look at his motivations.”

- The Man Who Invented Cinema is out on April 7 on Faber.

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