Watch The Countryman and the Cinematograph

This short film depicts and spoofs the power of the then-new cinematic medium itself as a country bumpkin in cowboy hat reacts to the projection of film images with amusement and terror. A self-referential bit of filmmaking from British pioneer Robert Paul (which also seems to poke fun at unsophisticated American audiences), this may be the earliest instance of a film within a film. - Robert Avila