Century Film Project

Celebrating the movies our ancestors loved

Tag: WKL Dickson

May 4, 2015

Billy Edwards and the Unknown (1895)

Billy Edwards Fight

This is another quick round of a boxing match, which I assume would have been released along with other rounds, for viewing on a Kinetoscope in sequence. The fighters in this match are short – both noticeably shorter than the referee in the ring, and seem to be quick and determined to get as many hits in as possible before the camera times out. We see the end of the round and one of the fighters returns to his corner and gets fanned by a towel. There are a number of spectators in the background, and one gets the impression that this fight was quite an event, although we are still dealing with the small area of the Black Maria. The fashions are interesting: both fighters sport long mustaches and the ref is in an elaborate evening coat, with a style that reminds me of Severus Snape. Many of the spectators wear stove-pipe hats.

Director: W.K.L. Dickson

Camera: William Heise

Run Time: 31 seconds

You can watch it for free: here.

Leave a comment
May 1, 2015

Fire Rescue Scene (1894)

Fire Rescue Scene

This Kinetoscope short may be considered for the title of “the first disaster movie.” Apparently shot in the Black Maria, it gives us a tableaux of three firemen saving children from a burning building. We don’t see the fire truck or the building – just a ladder. Someone offscreen hands the children down to the fireman on the ladder from above, and he passes them along to one of the men on the ground. Smoke is billowing all around him, which makes it difficult to be certain it was shot inside the studio, but I think it was. It’s worth noting that in the late nineteenth century volunteer firemen were often idolized as heroes and seen as appropriate centers of dramatic narrative. The opportunity to show them in action was no doubt a draw for the kinetoscope parlors.

With this review, I have now completed all the movies made before 1895 that I know about and have access to. So far as I know, the others on my list are lost, although of course I am always finding more. As this project has progressed, I have discovered literally hundreds of century films I did not know about when I started, and I keep hearing about more. Even if I were to only go up to 1915, there would probably be more than I could watch and review in a lifetime. Nevertheless, I enjoy continuing to fill in the gaps as I watch more movies from the early period on up to the century mark. I invite you to follow me on this journey as it proceeds.

Director: W.K.L. Dickson

Camera: William Heise

Run Time: 27 seconds

You can watch it for free: here.

1 Comment
April 30, 2015

Band Drill (1894)

Band Drill

Here, the Kinetoscope is used to record a limited maneuver by a marching band inside the Black Maria. There’s not a lot of room, so we only get nine performers, mostly with small trumpets, marching toward the camera and falling into lines while apparently playing a jostly marching tune. I say “apparently,” because in this film more than most of the other Kinetoscope movies we’ve seen, it’s very apparent how silent the medium is. According to Charles Musser, in The Emergence of Cinema, this was one of five short films depicting Charles Hoyt’s musical comedy “A Milk White Flag.” Presumably, like the six parts of the “Corbett – Courtney Fight,” these could be purchased as a group by exhibitors who would put them into adjacent machines, encouraging the viewer to drop a dime into each one to see the whole story unfold. It’s the only one I’ve seen, however, so I can’t say how effectively this worked. As an aside, marching bands and parades became a common subject for “actuality” films in the last years of the nineteenth century, apparently because they guaranteed both movement and large, outdoor scenes of cities people were interested in seeing. This movie is not part of that tradition, strictly speaking, but it does herald it to some degree.

Director: W.K.L. Dickson

Camera: William Heise

Run Time: 29 seconds

You can watch it for free: here.

Leave a comment
April 29, 2015

Bucking Broncho (1894)

Bucking Broncho1

This Kinetoscope picture, as with “Caicedo with Pole,” was shot outside the Black Maria studio, in a corral near the studio according to Charles Musser. Even though this was New Jersey, not the Wild West, I suppose it’s possible that there was an already-existing corral on the premises in this era of horse-drawn transportation. The movie is, of course, one of those made during the visit of Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show to the Edison Studios, along with “Annie Oakley” and “Sioux Ghost Dance.” The bronco is quite aggravated in its bucking, made the moreso when a cowpoke fires his gun into the corral to get it even more worked up. The rider hangs on almost to the end, at which point he seems to voluntarily dismount, while the horse continues to leap in a dangerous fashion after he has gone. There are quite a number of male spectators in the background; presumably a group of Edison employees came out to see the spectacle on their break.

Director: W.K.L. Dickson

Camera: William Heise

Run Time: 38 seconds

You can watch it for free: here.

Leave a comment
April 28, 2015

Glenroy Brothers No. 2 (1894)

Glenroy_Brothers_(1894)

This Kinetoscope movie depicts a boxing match, but, unlike last night’s “Corbett – Courtney Fight” or the previous “Leonard – Cushing Fight,” it probably didn’t get anyone at Edison Studios in trouble. It is a comedy routine performed by two actors known as the Glenroy brothers, and is an early example of the use of slapstick in silent film. It is included with other “Buffalo Bill” Kinetoscopes in “The Invention of Movies,” but it doesn’t look like a Wild West act to me. Charles Musser in The Emergence of Cinema refers to the Glenroy Brothers as “a burlesque boxing act” – let’s remember that “burlesque” had different connotations at the time, because this is, if anything, a less sexy fight than Corbett & Courtney’s. I would say that this, along with the Annabelle Moore movies, represents one of the first genuine crossovers between moving pictures and Vaudeville, two forms of entertainment which would be closely linked in the years to come. Once again, there is no surviving “no. 1” of which I am aware, so this was probably a remake of a damaged film.

Director: W.K.L. Dickson

Camera: William Heise

Run Time: 36 secs

You can watch it for free: here.

1 Comment
April 27, 2015

Corbett and Courtney Before the Kinetograph (1894)

Corbett and Courtney

In “The Invention of the Movies,” film historian Charles Musser takes some time to introduce this short Kinetoscope clip, arguing that it is symbolic of the “transgressive” nature of early cinema. It may not seem like all that big a deal to audiences today. However, it’s important to recall that boxing was illegal nearly everywhere in the USA, and that boxing was considered a violent “blood sport” equivalent to cock fighting. Edison was in fact prosecuted because of this movie, but got off, it would seem, due to his popularity among the type of men who sat on juries, on the claim that he was “away” the day this film was shot. The original version of this film was actually six one-minute reels, each showing a single round of the fight. Kinetoscope viewers could pay a nickel or dime to watch each round in sequence, moving from one machine to the next sequentially, or could save money and just watch the final reel to see who won. The version that survives is just a segment of one of the rounds, but I’m not certain which. The two fighters seem unevenly matched, one is much larger than the other and seems to have the upper hand, but this is a much more convincing match than the movie “Men Boxing” made previously as a experiment at the Black Maria studio. The larger of the two men (Corbett, I believe) is wearing rather revealing shorts, which ride up his rear almost like a g-string, which may have increased its “transgressive” nature for some audiences.

Director: W.K.L. Dickson

Camera: William Heise

Starring: James J. Corbett

Run Time: 45 secs

You can watch it for free: here.

3 Comments
April 24, 2015

Cockfight, no. 2 (1894)

Cockfight no2

Don’t ask me what happened to no. 1, apparently it was worn out, necessitating this remake to supply eager Kinetoscope exhibitors with a popular subject matter. It really does appear to be about 30 seconds worth of an actual cockfight, framed exactly as the stage for the “Boxing Cats” had been. There are two men behind the cage, but unlike Professor Welton, they do not need to assure that the birds keep fighting, the birds appear happy to comply without encouragement. Rather, the men are making bets, or possibly giving a performance of making bets, in order to supply the correct atmosphere for the viewer. Cockfighting, like boxing, was illegal in most states and regarded as a “blood sport” at the time. Of the two, boxing has become an accepted if somewhat dangerous sport, while cock fighting is even more heavily disapproved of, as a form of cruelty towards animals. Thus, audiences today may be just as fascinated by the forbidden subject as were the audiences of the nineteenth century.

Director: WKL Dickson

Camera: William Heise

Run Time: 35 secs

You can watch it for free: here.

1 Comment
April 23, 2015

Caicedo with Pole (1894)

Caicedo with Pole

This is a rare Kinetoscope which was shot “on location,” perhaps because the antics of Venezuelan tightrope walker Juan Caicedo were simply too grandiose for the cramped conditions of the “Black Maria.” At any rate, it stands out simply by being out-of-doors. Caicedo bounces on his slackly-strung tightrope, almost as though it were a trampoline, managing a flip and alternates landing on his feet with a sitting position (ouch!). Perhaps because of the frame-rate, the picture seems slowed down, giving the sense of a low-gravity performance. In other ways, such as composition and content, it is similar to other performances by circus performers that we have seen in from the studio.

Director: WKL Dickson

Camera: William Heise

Run Time: 35 secs

You can watch it for free: here (with music) or here (no music)

1 Comment
April 21, 2015

Carmencita (1894)

Carmencita

This early Kinetoscope film is a simple, brief clip from the dance routine of a dancer named “Carmencita,” who gives a performance for the camera of a dance she was performing at a New York music hall. It has been suggested that she was the first woman to appear in a motion picture, and that the film drew criticism for “lewdness.” She smiles and seems to enjoy dancing, which may have caused some scandal, although I suspect that her twirls, which occasionally lift her dress slightly above her ankles, and the final flourish, in which her upper skirt is pulled up to slightly reveal the complex under garment that holds it in place, would have been more shocking. In the Internet age, this movie has obtained another odd distinction: it is listed as movie “tt0000001” on the Internet Movie Database, presumably the first movie listed there.

 

Director: WKL Dickson

Camera: William Heise

Run Time: 21 secs

You can watch it for free: here.

Leave a comment
April 20, 2015

Athlete with Wand (1894)

Athlete with Wand

This short Kinetoscope moving picture is pretty much what its title suggests: a man in athletic garb performs some simple exercises with a long stick or staff. The point, surely, was simply to demonstrate that the process worked well enough to record a variety of motion for an audience to replay. The interesting part is that for some reason, there is a large dog in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. I can’t recall having seen this dog (possibly a black lab? I’m not an expert on dog breeds) in any other movie shot at the Black Maria, so possibly it belonged to the “athlete” brought in for this shoot. I’d like to think however, that it was a kind of mascot who hung around the Edison Studio, and maybe even had a cute nickname like “Black Maria.”

Director: WKL Dickson

Camera: William Heise

Run Time: 25 secs

You can watch it for free: here.

1 Comment