Horse and Rider Jumping Over an Obstacle

Starring: N/A
Directed by: Ottomar Anschutz
Rating: Not rated
Genre: Short, Documentary
Length: 5 seconds
1888

Times Seen:
Tim: 6

Summary: Horse riders jump over an obstacle.

Review:

Tim: I have to admit, it's sometimes frustrating to try and understand the roots of cinema. By most accounts I've read, I believe Louis Le Prince is responsible for the first motion picture. But, what do we make of Ottomar Anschutz's Horse and Rider Jumping Over an Obstacle? Is this a motion picture? A protofilm? A collection of photographs? The lines are a bit blurred, but since I watched it, I thought I'd capture my thoughts here.

The origins of cinema are fairly humble, as are most origins. The beginnings were more technological in nature. It's not like people were trying for narratives, it was inventors trying to perfect a technology. That's what this feels like to me- trying out a technology and exploring potential uses for it. While Le Prince's films feel very much like that, Anschutz's film also has another purpose. This film was (as i understand it) to help Prussian soldiers understand riding techniques better. I'm not entirely sure how it managed that, but it does differentiate the film a bit.

As everything else at this time period, the "film" itself is extremely simple. It features two men on horseback against a white backdrop, jumping a horse over a small obstacle. The quality of the film may not be incredible, but there's no doubt of what you are looking at. You yearn for more details, but you can see the movement happening before your eyes. In 1888, this was a monumental achievement.

As far as Horse and Rider Jumping Over an Obstacle, it's fascinating for cinema fans to see another breakthrough in the technology, this time by Anschutz. This is also the earliest surviving German film. The short itself might not be remarkable, but it's another important step in the history of cinema. For that reason alone, it's worth seeing.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- N/A



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