The Essential Films series of reviews is intended to help readers understand how film has gone from being a mere curiosity to the most popular artform worldwide in little more than a century, by analysing individual films from the dawn of the medium to the present day. The selection of titles will follow a rough chronological path, aimed essentially at tracing the development of the medium. The films will range from early experimental pieces, through the silent era, Hollywood and World Cinema, as well as taking account of the independent avant-garde and the impact of television.

Film reviews also serve another purpose, however. We all want to find the best in any artform. By selecting a number of pieces that might be considered mandatory for any serious filmgoer, Essential Films offers an opportunity to discover uncharted territory, as well as kindling a debate on our varied appreciation of the ups and downs of a form which some still argue does nothing but entertain us. See how they run…

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The invention of sound

Dickson Experimental Sound Film (1894), directed by William K.L. Dickson

Dickson wanted to record a sound film, and devised a situation to show off the effectiveness of his apparatus. As the synchronisation failed, he had little use for the film, not because it showed gay characters, but because Dickson Experimental Sound Film lacked sound.

Defining the film image

Roundhay Garden Scene (1888), directed by Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince

The three-lens camera was more suited for Le Prince’s idea of what film should be able to capture, primarily because it imitated human vision, capable not only of grasping three-dimensionality within a flat tableau, but also creating the illusion of an all-surrounding three-dimensionality.

Welcome into the world of film

Dickson Greeting (1891), directed by William K.L. Dickson

Judging from his body language, Dickson is clearly performing for the camera, aware of the effect this might have over the spectator. It is just then to assume that the greeting into the world of motion pictures was fully intended by the filmmaker.