Library conservators recently made a startling discovery in a batch of decaying film reels – a long-lost 1897 film by early cinema icon George Méliès. The French magician-turned-filmmaker’s "Gugusse and the Automaton,” the first appearance of a robot on screen, has long been sought after by sci-fi fans and cinemaphiles. No one had seen it in more than a century when Library staff carefully unwound it. You can see it now in this post and on the Library’s National Screening Room.
The whole movie is included in the article and is under a minute. Worth a viewing, imo.
Definitely worth a view, it has some nice special effects for its time. It’s always a shame that the accompanying music for most old silent films is lost, although in a lot of cases there wasn’t really any and it was made up at the theatre each time.
Edit: For those who don’t want to go on US government websites Wikipedia has a copy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gugusse_et_l'Automate_-_1897.webm
Ok. I have seen better movies but the plot is on par with many modern Hollywood flicks.
Thanks for this. Awesome find. I really enjoyed the fictional film Hugo (2011) which featured this “Automaton”.


