The Disappearance Mystery

I read a book about the mystery of Le Prince's disappearance; it's "The Missing Reel" by Christopher Rawlence (it's also a history of his film inventions). According to Rawlence, Le Prince's wife believed in a theory that Thomas Edison had Le Prince murdered, presumably to steal credit for (and patent rights to) the invention of motion pictures. If I remember correctly, Le Prince's son testified in some legal battle over Edison's motion picture patent rights, or something, too. Of course, there's no evidence of a murder, let alone one contrived by Edison, but it's an interesting book nonetheless.

"The cinéma is an invention without a future," said Louis Lumière.