The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures

A True Tale of Obsession, Murder, and the Movies

By: Paul Fischer

Narrated by: Emily Ellet

One of the New York Times Best True Crime of 2022

A “spellbinding, thriller-like” (Shelf Awareness) history about the invention of the motion picture and the mysterious, forgotten man behind it—detailing his life, work, disappearance, and legacy.

The year is 1888, and Louis Le Prince is finally testing his “taker” or “receiver” device for his family on the front lawn. The device is meant to capture ten to twelve images per second on film, creating a reproduction of reality that can be replayed as many times as desired. In an otherwise separate and detached world, occurrences from one end of the globe could now be viewable with only a few days delay on the other side of the world. No human experience—from the most mundane to the most momentous—would need to be lost to history.

In 1890, Le Prince was granted patents in four countries ahead of other inventors who were rushing to accomplish the same task. But just weeks before unveiling his invention to the world, he mysteriously disappeared and was never seen or heard from again. Three and half years later, Thomas Edison, Le Prince’s rival, made the device public, claiming to have invented it himself. And the man who had dedicated his life to preserving memories was himself lost to history—until now.

The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures pulls back the curtain and presents a “passionate, detailed defense of Louis Le Prince…unfurled with all the cliffhangers and red herrings of a scripted melodrama” (The New York Times Book Review). This “fascinating, informative, skillfully articulated narrative” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) presents the never-before-told history of the motion picture and sheds light on the unsolved mystery of Le Prince’s disappearance.

Critic reviews

"Ellet’s warm tones reveal LePrince’s family life, while her energetic delivery reflects his grueling hours of hard work on the project. She highlights the intense competition between inventors such as Edison and the Lumière brothers, while providing many technological insights on the history of photography. Fascinating listening, especially for film and photography buffs."

Great Story, not the best narration.

The only thing I disliked about this audible was the narrator. I didn't think her voices for different characters were very good and I'm not a harsh critic. The other reason this book might be better read is that every time someone says anything, she says, "quote...unquote" an insane amount of times. I found that to get extremely annoying by about halfway through.

Quote, Unquote

I found the story to be very intriguing with only one qualm: all the "quate" and unquote" designations of passages. Were they needed? In many audible stories, they are assumed, so that the flow of the reading, content is not so disrupted. Just a bit irritating, especially when they accumulate quickly.

Great, aside from “quote/un-quote”

A fascinating and compelling history, very well read. But “quote” and “un-quote” continually said out loud becomes very repetitive to listen to.

Can't even make it through prologue

I really wanted to like this book but the narration is just dreadful. Over the top attempt to be dramatic.
The writing is so wordy it's annoying.

this book will mot download on my device

I do not know how to write to Audible to tru to send it again- it will not download after the prologue. I want to listen hut cannot if it will mot download