The Missing Reel: The Untold Story of the Lost Inventor of Moving PicturesFrench inventor Louis Aime Augustin Le Prince vanished while on a train journey from Dijon to Paris in 1890; before his disappearance--he was then presumed dead--he had been on the brink of going public with his one-lens camera and projector. British filmmaker Rawlence here cites evidence left by his widow in her memoirs that Thomas Edison was linked to Le Prince's death. This absorbing, technically and legally overloaded whodunit jumps back and forth between past and present, including suspenseful accounts of the author's research and interviews with Le Prince's descendants on several continents. Rawlence discusses the cut-throat politics of the infant film industry and shady U.S. Patent Office dealings, along with what he considers Edison's dubious business practices. No smoking gun is decisively uncovered, however, and readers are left to draw their own conclusions about Le Prince's fate. |
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The missing reel: the untold story of the lost inventor of moving pictures
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictIndustrial piracy has been around for as long as there have been people with good, patentable ideas and others unscrupulous enough to steal them. This book deals with one such plausible case involving ... Read full review
Contents
Long Distance Information | 3 |
Leeds 1930 | 12 |
West Orange 1889 | 30 |
Copyright | |
29 other sections not shown
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Common terms and phrases
achievement Adolphe apparatus appeared application arrived asked Augustin became become began brother called claim Company constructed continued disappearance earlier early Edison Electric Exhibition experiments eyes father felt film finally followed frame French hand hope idea industry interest invention inventor John Joseph lamp late later lawyers Le Prince Le Prince's Leeds lens lenses letter light living Lizzie Lizzie's looked machine Marie material means mechanical months motion movement moving pictures moving-picture nature never once Page Paris passed past patent Patent Office photographic Plate Prince Prince's problem projection projector round seemed sequence showed side single single-lens camera steps success taken thing thought told took train turned waiting wanted watched weeks Whitley Wilson York
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Bibliographic information
| Title | The Missing Reel: The Untold Story of the Lost Inventor of Moving Pictures |
| Author | Christopher Rawlence |
| Edition | illustrated, reprint |
| Publisher | Atheneum, 1990 |
| Original from | the University of Michigan |
| Digitized | Apr 19, 2006 |
| ISBN | 0689120680, 9780689120688 |
| Length | 306 pages |
| Subjects | › Photography / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |