A horse race and a murderer invented cinema

A horse race and a murderer invented cinema

March 22, 2026 · 26 min

About this episode

The episode explores the life of Eadweard Muybridge and his contributions to the invention of cinema through his experiments with motion photography.

Before cinema, before Hollywood, before we even understood how to make pictures move, there was a man constantly reinventing himself. He was a bookseller, a photographer, an alleged fraud and eventually, a killer. But in between scandals and aliases, he conducted a strange experiment that would change the way we see the world. Marta Braun is a renowned expert in 19th century stop-motion photography, and she tells Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) the story of Eadweard Muybridge and how his photographs of a horse race stopped time, helped the world understand motion, and created the moving image. Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. Get in touch: Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at noonesawitcoming@abc.net.au

People in this episode

Host: Marc Fennell

Guest: Marta Braun

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Organizations: ABC Australia

Books & works: No One Saw It Coming

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