Paul Fischer is a screenwriter which makes the telling of this book a bit technical in many regards, which I wasn't expecting. With that said, I believe his insight of cameras and the nature of the process of film-making helps the reader see these details to help understand how paramount (no pun intended), these discoveries had been at the time they were discovered. It was certainly an interesting subject, but I found the whole book to be a bit tedious to read through. I think if there was more of a story-telling aspect, I would have enjoyed it even more.

This was very intriguing and informative. The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures is well written and I definitely gained a lot of information from it.

Very well researched and written, I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would. Thanks very mcuh to Netgalley and the publisher!!

3 stars. A decent read about a person and story I didn't know before, except for a vague memory of hearing that motion pictures were invented before Thomas Edison getting the credit for it from many people. The author makes a compelling argument for why and how the main character disappeared, but no spoilers here. Recommend, though most people probably won't want to take the deep dive into this history, fascinating as I found it.

Thank you to #NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

What a fascinating well-written book . . . part detective story, part social history, a true page turner. Based on this book, alone, I would be very interested in reading anything else by this author. Truly entertaining !!

5 Stars

I loved this book!! It took me longer to read than I expected because it sent me down so many internet rabbit holes. Fischer did an amazing job of presenting Louis Le Prince as a hardworking hero. It's nearly impossible not to root for him and his family which makes the end of his story all the more tragic. What happened to Louis Le Prince is such a perplexing mystery but I think Fischer has a great and plausible theory. I found myself very emotionally invested in this book and can't stop sharing the fun facts I learned. This book can be very technical at times and literally my only issue with this book is that I wished they included more diagrams to show how some of the early cameras worked because it was a little difficult for me to visualize. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in movies and the history of invention.

Learned so much in this one. That's why I enjoy reading non-fiction. Well written and interesting read.

I am a huge fan of film and film history so was very intrigued by this book - particularly because I had never hear of Louis Le Prince -- but it's not surprising because growing up in America we were led to believe that Thomas Edison was the inventor of motion pictures. Edison certainly played a role including in the commercialization and implementation of motion pictures and early theaters but was not the original inventor. I first became aware of an alternative narrative when I visited the Cinematheque Francaise in Paris and the tour guide pointedly said it was the Lumiere Brothers not Edison who invented motion pictures -- at the time I wrote it off to nationalistic pride but now reading this book I learning there were many inventors (French and American and probably others) who played a crucial role in this innovation. The arc of the narrative is around the mystery of the disappearance of Louis Le Prince and possible suspects and motives revealed along the way. This book was so beautifully written, detailed, and meticulously researched that I was drawn into all of the inventors and the Le Prince family. We learn about other players such as Daguerre and Muybridge along the way too to understand all of the creative work and innovation that ultimately influenced motion picture. In the end, we see the toll and collateral damage that the disappearance of Le Prince takes on the family and I very much cared about these people. Le Prince was clearly a perfectionist and had to battle getting patents and other inventors who go "first to market." with the idea. But Le Prince had a vision -- that motion pictures will connect people to the world, to educate and to communicate human experiences and true feelings to create empathy. I could not say it anymore beautifully than that. I highly recommend this book.

By the late 1880s, inventors on both sides of the Atlantic were tinkering with motion-picture machines, mostly mechanical devices that shone bright light on or through a succession of still photographic images — themselves the products of a relatively new technology — to create the illusion of realistic motion.

In one variation on this notion, a single onlooker would peer through an eyepiece into a self-contained box. In others, the device cast the “moving” image onto a screen for multiple viewers to watch collectively.

In the public mind, the presumptive inventor of this latter projector was Thomas Edison, that luminous avatar of all miracles electrical. But author Paul Fischer suggests that our long-revered “wizard of Menlo Park” was not at all the dogged, introverted researcher many of us have been conditioned to idolize. In his thoroughly engrossing The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures, Fischer suggests that Edison was as much a duplicitous businessman as the steel-in-the-spine American icon portrayed onscreen by Spencer Tracy.

Fischer’s Edison, it seems, was not above fielding archly underhanded schemes to preserve his market dominance and public image. Other commentators have also painted Edison in these darker shades, but Fischer goes them all one better, floating the notion that Edison was a prime mover in the disappearance and possible murder of a rival who was besting Edison’s team in the race to release a revolutionary projector.

That rival was Louis LePrince, a native Frenchman and naturalized U.S. citizen. LePrince was a scientific loner, a brilliant obsessive entangled in a perfectionistic quest for a magic motion machine. In 1888, he’s making impressive strides toward a working, marketable device, thanks to an innovation from pioneering chemist George Eastman: a durable celluloid film that could carry a sequence of still images on a spinning sprocket.

(Previous approaches relied on a fragile spool of imprinted paper or, alternatively, required a mechanically advanced sequence of heavy glass plates that carried the still pictures. Both types of machines were subject to frequent and disabling breakage of the image media.)

Based on Eastman’s breakthrough, LePrince ultimately files patent applications covering the key features of his own new device. Soon afterward, however, on the way from his ancestral home in France to his workshop in England, he goes missing.

And is never found.

Meanwhile, the Edison company, not far behind in its own project, files a patent for a similar device. LePrince’s wife protests a prior claim on her husband’s behalf but, in the absence of evidence confirming Louis’ death, is impeded for years in asserting his patent rights. She spends the remaining decades of her own life vainly attempting to uncover what happened to him.

Yet this diverting mystery — and Edison’s putative involvement in any crime committed — is only the headline here. A fascinating sideshow for sure, and arguably a marketing tease. But make no mistake: The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures delivers much, much more.

From a broader perspective, Fischer’s narrative is a compelling saga of both familial and scientific struggle. Throughout, he shines a brilliant light on the succession of major players searching for the keys to motion-picture technology, mechanical as well as chemical, both stateside and abroad.

The author offers fascinating coverage of, among other aspects, Edward Muybridge’s work with successive still images of human and equine locomotion, not to mention the gimmicky “magic lantern” devices that preceded Edison’s and LePrince’s nearly simultaneous breakthroughs.

He also dives deeply into the internal workings at Edison’s New Jersey labs, with a wide-ranging dissection of the company’s business model and much reportage on its internal management practices, rivalry, and endemic dissension. Most fascinating of all, at least for this reader, is Fischer’s discussion of the LePrince family dynamic: an accomplished wife (arguably more celebrated among contemporaries than Louis himself), a raft of children, and their touching attempts to lead a satisfying life spread out between a home in New York and Louis’ workshop in England. LePrince’s mother and brother, resident in France, add yet another layer of complexity, as the attentive reader will discover.

So, Fischer trails out a theory of murder at the center of his story, but it’s a pretty thin bit of earnest (and somewhat labored) speculation. Almost as an afterthought, he brings forward a more believable if less interesting suspect than Edison with a more plausible motivation for the crime. Like Dame Agatha, he saves a possible solution for the end, and it makes painful sense, like most murders.

The title says it all - this is a tale of talent, obsession and where that obsession leads to and how the man at the heart of it all didn't live to see just where his obsession led to. Filled with intrigue, accusations of thievery [looking at you Thomas Edison here - this is pretty eye opening and thought-provoking and to be honest, not all that surprising], and of course movie making [including all the tech stuff that, to be honest, made my eyes glaze over]. It was an intriguing read [though to be honest, it wasn't one I was looking forward to each day - once I started listening, it was good, but getting there was never something I wanted to do].

Overall, this was a decent read - if you love movies and do not have an issue with an overwhelming amount of tech, this is the book for you.

Thank you to NetGalley, Paul Fischer, and Simon and Schuster for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Following the life, the accomplishments and the mysterious disappearance of Louis Le Prince in 1890, Paul Fischer has written a book to bring the invention of moving pictures into better focus. If you thought Edison invented moving pictures, think again. Even if you have little or no knowledge of photography, this will inform you in an easy to understand form. More than the mystery of what became of Le Prince, it's his life story and a glimpse of a pivotal time in history.
Le Prince was a genius and by 1888 he had numerous international patents for his motion picture. Well before Edison. When Le Prince vanished after boarding a train in Dijon, the stage was set for Edison to claim the prize, to rewrite motion picture history. Despite those patents, they couldn't be defended until one of two events happened - that his body be found or, after seven years when he would be declared legally dead. Using that delay to his advantage, Edison moved to become THE inventor of motion pictures. It makes for an enthralling history lesson.
My thanks to the publisher Simon Schuster and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures
by Paul Fischer
Pub Date: April 19, 2022
Simon Schuster
Thanks to the author, Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
For me, this was not a page-turner.
People with an interest in film will enjoy this, true crime fans might have more of a problem. There is a lot of interesting history and facts about cameras, and the innovators and inventors, and for those unaware of what Thomas Edison was really like this might come as a surprise. Not sure if there was credible research to prove this, however.
3 stars rounded up

To find out that Thomas Edison was such a thief of other's ideas, who would have ever thought of it? I really appreciate the way the author went into detail of all the ins and outs of the photography business and it's components, chemicals, the process in general, because the details actually mattered. Not only for the patents and lawsuits that inevitably came up during the inventive years as well as later years, but also in giving credit where credit was due, to those who were the actual inventors and knew their instruments well. I mean, to get the name of the invention wrong kind of points out that it might not actually be your brain child. Le Prince's story comes to life, the human aspect of his relationship with his wife and kids to the creative process of tinkering with his invention through the various phases as he was determined to bring his vison to life. It's the stories like these that get lost in time until someone brings them out of the darkness. Thank you Paul Fischer for doing just that. Le Prince's story has been well documented and I believe his family would be appreciative of getting the truth told.
*I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This review is my own opinion*

Title & Author: The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures by Paul Fischer
Genre: Nonfiction, Biography
Publishes: April 2022
Overall Rating: 5 stars
Plot & Setting: 5 stars
Writing & Themes: 5 stars
Recommend? Absolutely! This is a great book for people interested in filmography and the history of photography. Fischer takes the time to explain key discoveries and the basis for Le Prince and other inventors' work, so it's great for people who have a lot of knowledge or know very little about the topic.

Quick Note: Thanks so much to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this work!

Summary:

Fischer's work details the life, disappearance, and work of Louis Le Prince: the man who invented motion pictures. From the idea of preserving memories on film as they happened in life to the creation of a functioning camera and projector in 1888, we follow the tale of Le Prince and his family as he makes history in a myriad of ways.

Overall Review:

While I wouldn't call this one page turning because it's just not a word that seems to really fit nonfiction works, this book is definitely worth a read! Fischer's writing style is great for explaining the ins and outs of photography through to the creation of the first film camera. He has just enough creative flair that The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures reads a little more like a novel than research, and he never says he's not going to portray Thomas Edison as he (and many others) sees him. This book was interesting and taught me so many things!


Plot and Setting:

The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures is a nonfiction work, so we will talk about tone and how the book flows once again. Fischer's set up makes sense. Going into the work, I already knew about Le Prince's mysterious disappearance from a Paris train and the idea that Edison might have been behind it. However, even if this were news to the reader, it creates an expectation and anticipation for the series of events that follow in the book, but that happened before. From there, we start to learn about events chronologically. The whole work flows beautifully, research and direct quotes from letters and other correspondence are integrated seamlessly: it might actually be nonfiction perfection.

Fischer also made it easy to follow setting by pinpointing where each location would have been or still is. If I had a map, I would definitely be able to find everywhere he mentioned. Descriptions of settings were just as clear.


Writing and Themes:

Fischer doesn't mince words, but he also doesn't use any more than he needs. It wasn't difficult to understand even the most technical of his camera, film, and projector explanations. The whole book was pretty easy to read, especially for nonfiction. Although it was obvious he wasn't Edison's biggest fan, he still talked about him with respect, and Fischer didn't allude to anything he didn't plan on talking through. The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures was involving and surprising. And when the summary promised "never before seen" information, Fischer delivered. The ending still has me reeling from its flawless delivery and the shift from the common dialogue discussed throughout the book.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Simon & Schuster for an advance copy of this new book on the history of motion pictures.

The history of innovation gives proof to the statement that success has many parents. Especially when that success changes the world, and helps give birth to an industry that almost one hundred fifty years later has given us Marvel Studio movies that make billions of dollars. In the creation of motion pictures many take credit. Edison who used his wealth to control patents on the work of William Kennedy Dickson, the Lumière brothers, and others. However the true first might have been a French inventor and artist who has been forgotten for many reasons, including possibly murder, Louis Aimé Augustin Le Prince. Paul Fisher in his book The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures: A True Tale of Obsession, Murder, and the Movies attempts to tell the life of this man, and why he disappeared from both history and his family.

In 1888 Le Prince tested a device, a hand cranked single lens camera with paper negative film from Eastman, filming his family as they roamed around a garden, with more footage of his sone playing an accordion. This film was possibly the first produced, and was well ahead of other inventors and their experiments. A lack of money, and numerous problems, both business and personal held Le Prince up from capitalizing on his work, though the did patent what he could in four countries. On a simple visit to his brother Le Prince disappeared, never to be seen again. Conspiracies arose to what had become of Le Prince, was it assassins dispatched be Edison, just a simple robbery/ homicide, or was the problems to much for the man, and he fled his friends and family in a fit of madness. The family assumed foul play, trials both physical and emotional continued for years, and the mystery of Le Prince's disappearance was never solved.

The book is a history of the development of the camera and motion pictures with a true crime tacked on, that does nothing for the story. The book seeks to be a Erik Larson, but the crime is not much of a story, nor does it make up for the purple prose that seems to fill the book. There is no resolution to Le Prince's disappearance. Blame is put onto a character, but there is not proof, nor even a body. There is a lot of not even circumstantial evidence, more a lot of could be, maybe. The history is interesting, but the writing is a tad clunky, and this true crime aspect is just too big of an influence on the book, for a crime that no one knows what it is.

People with an interest in film will enjoy this, true crime fans might have more of a problem. There is a lot of interesting history and facts about cameras, and the innovators and inventors, and for those unaware of what Thomas Edison was really like this might come as a surprise.

This book is a hot mess. Has it been edited? It's full of hyperbole and false drama and purple prose. The author's research is frequently questionable and sometimes lacking altogether, and it's presented in a way that gimmicky and tabloidesque.

First and foremost a huge thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for providing me with an advanced copy of this book. To be honest I genuinely hate giving bad reviews, but I truly could not get into this book and found it terribly boring. I really wish I could have found something to like but this book was just not for me unfortunately. I'm sure for others this is right up their alley, but I found it very hard to care about the characters or the plot honestly and it seemed the story just dragged unnecessarily.

There was just too much technical stuff about camera lenses and the like which I skimmed over to be sure but still detracted from my enjoyment of the book. Plus I think it was overhyped. Here was no surprising solution to who killed LePrince, if he was even killed(kind of like Capone’s vault). But there was still some interesting social history surrounding the invention of the motion picture to warrant three stars.