From the Sight and Sound archive
Darkest hour: the first ever film of a solar eclipse
Ahead of the solar eclipse on 12 August, we shed some light on a pioneering film from 1900 which is believed to be the earliest surviving astronomical film. In this piece from our August 2019 issue, Bryony Dixon explores its backstory and how early cinema mixed science, entertainment and magic.
By Bryony Dixon
Darkest hour: the first ever film of a solar eclipse