What the Debate Over Long Movies Gets Wrong

On Dec. 28, 1895, Louis and Auguste Lumière staged the first exhibition of a moving picture for a paying audience. On Dec. 29, the first person complained that it was too long. Sure, The Arrival of a Train at la Ciotat Station ran only 47 seconds, and it made such an impression on 19^th-century audiences that, according to legend, spectators fled the room for fear of being crushed by an oncoming locomotive as it hurtled toward the Lumières’ camera. But spending almost an entire minute watching the train pull past the camera still felt like the height of artistic indulgence. By the fourth or fifth car, surely the point had been made.