In the flickering dawn of cinema, one man's genius lit the screen?only to be extinguished in shadows of betrayal and mystery.

Louis Le Prince, the enigmatic French artist turned inventor, dared to capture motion itself. In 1888, from a modest Leeds garden, he unveiled Roundhay Garden Scene?the world's first surviving motion picture, a 2.11-second miracle shot on a revolutionary single-lens camera and strip of film. His vision: a device to freeze time, to bring stories alive. But as Le Prince raced to patent his breakthrough, a darker reel unspooled.

Boarding a Paris-bound train in 1890, Le Prince vanished without a trace?his camera, his films, his legacy swallowed by the night. Was it a tragic accident in the Seine? Or something far more sinister? Enter Thomas Edison, the Wizard of Menlo Park, whose own motion empire loomed on the horizon. Whispers of sabotage, stolen secrets, and a ruthless patent war swirl around the "father of the movies," casting Le Prince as the forgotten pioneer erased from history.

Shadows on the Screen is a riveting blend of biography, invention thriller, and true-crime enigma. Unearth the lost reels, decode the conspiracies, and reclaim the true spark of cinema. For in the race to illuminate the world, some geniuses burn too bright?and disappear forever. Perfect for fans of The Devil in the White City and The Professor and the Madman, this is the untold story that rewrites the silver screen.