Medicine has frequently been in the forefront of applying new illustrative media to its needs, and cinematographic film is a good example. Within a year of the introduction of moving pictures, cine-film was used for medical research and to a lesser extent for teaching. The profession took advantage of the spread of cinemas by making health education films, and during the first half century of cinematography surgeons were keen to have their operations filmed. Medical educators were slow to include film in their teaching programmes and several organizations were formed to encourage their use. After the Second World War, medical films for undergraduate and postgraduate education became accepted until, as the medical film reached its centenary, cine-film declined in favour of video-recordings.