London's Trafalgar Square (1890)

Directed by

Wordsworth Donisthorpe, William Carr Crofts

Genre

documentary film, silent film

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

2 min

Rating

4.9 of 10 from 42 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This is a short silent film from 1890 showing traffic moving through Trafalgar Square in London. Only ten frames survive, making it the oldest known moving image of the city.

briefhistoricalrawprimitiveobservationalstaticearly-cinemadaylit

What happens

London's Trafalgar Square is an 1890 British short silent actuality film, shot by inventors and film pioneers Wordsworth Donisthorpe and William Carr Crofts at approximately 10 frames per second with an oval or circular frame on celuloid film using their 'kinesigraph' camera, showing traffic at Trafalgar Square in London. The surviving ten frames of film are the earliest known motion picture of the city. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

• Traffic in King's Road, Chelsea (1890)
• Leisurely Pedestrians, Open Topped Buses and Hansom Cabs with Trotting Horses (1889)
• Highgate Tunnel: Goods Train (1895)
• Stock Exchange Walk from London to Brighton (1903)
• Petticoat Lane on Sunday (1904)
• Whitehall (1903)
• Roundhay Garden Scene (1888)
• Panorama of Paris (1904)