The greatest movie ever made..!

Excellent, a Must See

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Time-lapse photography is used to show the manual dismantling and demolition of New York's Star Theatre over a period of about thirty days.I have to assume that the "building up" is simple dismantling shown in reverse, because if these builders were able to construct a theater in thirty days, that would be amazing in itself. But either way, is this the first time-lapse film? It had to be one of the first, and it really captures something grand.We are also left to wonder about the building in the foreground that keeps taking its awning down and putting it back up up. While that was probably normal at he time, it seems strange today when awnings comes attached to the building and never go away.

"Demolishing and Building Up the Star Theatre" is a very early example of time lapse photography. The reason that nobody else did it before that is probably also what it is most known of. At least, I could not see any other memorable features in these almost 3 minutes. That's a bit of a shame as director Frederick S. Armitage, one of America's filmmaking pioneers, chose an interesting location to depict in his film. And the idea of letting it collapse again was fairly nice too. I am sure many people who watched this film did not understand the concept and thought it actually did collapse in real as well. Still, I was a bit disappointed by this movie. It has its moments, but it also drags a bit. Maybe 90 seconds max would have been a better idea.

At about the turn of the century, an old theater was being torn down. Not wanting to lose an opportunity, the film makers film it--frame by frame and piecing it together using time-lapse footage. So, you see the building going from complete to completely demolished in only about 2 minutes.This is a highly creative film for 1901 and must have impressed audiences of the day. Sure, in today's world audiences would not be particularly impressed, as time-lapse filming is taken for granted. Still, you have to admire all the time that went into making this--it must have taken months.If you'd like to see it, it's included in the 50 film set "Treasures From American Film Archives"--a four-DVD set of mostly ephemeral old films that would have otherwise been lost and forgotten.

A fascinating example of timelapse photography, and quitepossible the first. Shot from one angle, the movie begins with areal time shot of a building across the street, the Star Theater.Vehicles of all kinds crowd the street below, and the sidewalk isbustling with people.Then time flashes forward. As though watching somebodydressed in layers of clothes start to strip, we watch as Stardisappears, pealed away layer by layer by an ant-like demolitioncrew. The final shot, still from the same angle, is again in realtime, showing people and vehicles passing through the street,past what is now a vacant lot.We're so used to seeing examples of this same sort of scenenow, it's strangely unnerving to see it happen 102 years ago. Thepicture quality of the print I saw was extremely crisp, and finedetails (even the faces of passersby on the street) were visible.The only thing I didn't like so much was seeing a beautiful buildingget torn down. Still, at least it was all captured on film for us to seenow. A fascinating document.