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Poster for The Arrival of a Train
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Released
1896 · FILM

The Arrival of a Train

Color
Black & White
Runtime
1 min
Language
FR
History

Synopsis

A group of people stand along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen approaching from a distance and eventually stops at the platform. The doors of the railway cars open, and attendants assist passengers in boarding and disembarking. Popular legend claims that during the film's first screening, the audience fled the café in terror, believing they would be run over by the approaching train. This story has since been identified as promotional exaggeration, although there is evidence suggesting that viewers were genuinely astonished by the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

Principal cast & crew: 8

These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.

Why a floor?

This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.

Craft leads on file

Shot by Louis Lumiere

Also known as

  • Ankunft eines Zuges in La Ciotatde
  • Arrival of a Train at La Ciotatde
  • Die Ankunft eines Zuges im Bahnhof Ciotatde
  • Einfahrt eines Zugesde
  • The Arrival of the Mail Trainde
  • The Arrival of a Train at la Ciotat Stationen
  • La llegada de un tren a la estación de La Ciotates
  • L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotatfr
  • L'arrivo di un treno alla stazione di La Ciotatit

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