The soldiers climb ropes, first one rank of them, then another in this Lumiere film from 1897.
The Lumieres recognized, as few other film makers clearly did at this stage, that the movie audience was able to process more than one set of movements. Some of their most striking works from this period show three separate sorts of movement taking place in different areas of the frame. Basically, there was always something else for the audience to look at once it had taken in what had happened in one portion of the frame. It looked at something new and then could return.
In this we see three sets of movement: as each rank moves to the ropes, as they climb them, and as they exit to the left. Despite the dozen or so soldiers, there isn't that much for the eye to follow.