5 Movies and Animation: Sampling Time

Movie history is even more contentious than computer history. Many Americans believe that Thomas Edison invented the movies—else it was that unpronounceable Eadweard Muybridge. The French are convinced it was their own Lumière brothers. What's certainly wrong is to simplify so complex a technological achievement. Like movie credits at the end of a film, there are always many contributors who are fundamental to a magnificent production. It's never just the director, lead actor, or screenwriter, say. And certainly not the money man or chief marketer. No, the true story of cinema is a briar patch, thornier than that of computers.