10 Movies You Didn’t Know Were Responsible For Game-Changing Innovations

10. The First Plot - L'Arroseur Arrosé

1895's L'Arroseur Arrosé, sometimes referred to as The Tables Turned On The Gardener, is the earliest known film comedy. At the time film shorts captured mundane activities like people sneezing or walking out of a factory, but L'Arroseur Arrosé shows an actual intent to tell a story. A very short story, but a story none the less.

The story is a simple one, a simple man needs to accomplish a mission (watering a garden) but is stymied by his foe, who not only attempts to foil our hero's noble goal but also tries to make him a fool of him in the process. The villain in the end is found out and dispatched by the hero. Plot, conflict, resolution.

It's odd looking back and realising the first screen bad guy is a little kid (albeit who is a dick) but it shows a defined jump from a mere presentation of the technology to using film as a means of storytelling.

Although Thomas Edison did make a short of two cats boxing one year earlier, and it is kind of funny, it doesn't really have a scripted plot, as it's just Edison toying with animals (the man used to electrocute elephants too so cruelty to animals is not out of his wheelhouse).