The Sprinkler Sprinkled

Louis Lumière, Lyon, spring 1895, shown as Le Jardinier at the Grand Café that December. François Clerc, the family gardener, waters a lawn; Benoît Duval, a factory apprentice, steps on the hose. Clerc inspects the nozzle, the jet hits him in the face, and he catches the boy and spanks him. Forty-five seconds, one camera position. Lumière later told Georges Sadoul he shot only this version; Marcellin Auzolle's poster of the gag is among the earliest film posters.