Birth of the Cinema

S1 E1: This opening part of The Story of Film: An Odyssey shows the birth of a great new art form, the movies. Filmed in the very buildings where the first movies were made, it shows that ideas and passion have always driven film, more than money and marketing. We hear the story of the very first movie stars, close ups and special effects and then we travel to Hollywood to see how it became a myth. The story is full of surprises, such as the fact that the greatest, and best paid writers in these early years, were women. And then there’s the glamour: the building of the great movie cathedrals.