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- DirectorWilliam K.L. DicksonStarsWilliam K.L. DicksonThe very first American film shown to public audiences and the press. It depicts William K.L. Dickson taking off his hat and greeting the audience.The first public demonstration of motion pictures in the US using the Kinetoscope occurred at the Edison Laboratories to the Federation of Women's Clubs on May 20, 1891.
- DirectorWilliam K.L. DicksonStarsCharles KayserJohn OttThree men hammer on an anvil and pass a bottle of beer around.
- DirectorWilliam K.L. DicksonStarsFred OttA man (Thomas Edison's assistant) takes a pinch of snuff and sneezes. This is one of the earliest Thomas Edison films and was the first motion picture to be copyrighted in the United States.On January 7, 1894, The Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze (aka Fred Ott's Sneeze) became the first film officially registered for copyright. It was one of the first series of short films made by Dickson for the Kinetoscope viewer in Edison's Black Maria studio with fellow assistant Fred Ott. The short five-second film was made for publicity purposes, as a series of still photographs to accompany an article in Harper's Weekly. It was the earliest surviving, copyrighted motion picture (or "flicker") - composed of an optical record (and medium close-up) of Fred Ott, an Edison employee, sneezing comically for the camera. It was noted as the first medium-closeup.
- DirectorWilliam K.L. DicksonStarsCarmencitaPerforming on what looks like a small wooden stage, wearing a dress with a hoop skirt and white high-heeled pumps, Carmencita does a dance with kicks and twirls, a smile always on her face.Carmencita (1894) was directed and produced by Edison's employee William K.L. Dickson. She was filmed March 10-16, 1894 in Edison's Black Maria studio in West Orange, NJ. Spanish dancer Carmencita was the first woman to appear in front of an Edison motion picture camera, and quite possibly the first female to appear in a US motion picture. In some cases, the projection of the scandalous film on a Kinetoscope was forbidden, because it revealed Carmencita's legs and undergarments as she twirled and danced. This was one of the earliest cases of censorship in the moving picture industry.
- DirectorWilliam K.L. DicksonStarsAnnabelle MooreAnnabelle Moore performs her Sun Dance.Charles Francis Jenkins
- DirectorWilliam K.L. DicksonStarsAnnabelle MooreAnnabelle (Whitford) Moore performs one of her popular dances. For this performance, her costume has a pair of wings attached to her back, to suggest a butterfly. As she dances, she uses her long, flowing skirts to create visual patterns.Charles Francis Jenkins
- DirectorWilliam K.L. DicksonA man does a series of trapeze tricks.
- DirectorWilliam K.L. DicksonStarsWilliam K.L. DicksonThe earliest extant sound film. William K.L. Dickson stands in the background next to a huge sound pickup horn connected to a Thomas Edison phonograph recorder. As he plays a violin, two men dance in the foreground. This film was made to demonstrate a new Thomas Edison machine, the Kinetophone. These machines were Kinetoscope peepshow viewers mated with Thomas Edison wax cylinder phonographs. But the Kinetophone never caught on and this film was never released. The film still exists, but the phonograph soundtrack has been lost.This short film was a test for Edison's "Kinetophone" project, the first attempt in history to record sound and moving image in synchronization. This was an experiment by William Dickson to put sound and film together either in 1894 or 1895.
- DirectorWilliam K.L. DicksonStarsAnnabelle MooreAnnabelle (Whitford) Moore performs her popular serpentine dance routine. She twirls around, and as she does so, she uses her long skirts to create a variety of patterns.
- DirectorWilliam HeiseStarsMay IrwinJohn C. RiceIn a medium close-up shot of the first kiss ever recorded on screen, two fervent lovers cuddle and talk passionately at hair's breadth, just before the love-smitten gentleman decides to give his chosen one an innocent peck.
- Two roosters fight while two men make bets in the background. No (onscreen) deaths of the animals involved.
- DirectorEnoch J. RectorStarsJames J. CorbettBob FitzsimmonsBilly MaddenDocumentary film depicting the 1897 boxing match between James J. Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons in Carson City, Nevada on St. Patrick's Day. Originally running for more than 100 minutes, it is the world's first feature film.The longest film ever to be released by that date), and shown by the Veriscope Company, had its debut on May 22, 1897 at the Academy of Music in New York City.
- DirectorWilliam HeiseA commercial. Four men sit in animated conversation in front of a billboard for Admiral Cigarettes. The billboard fills the entire background. Beside them is a large box, also marked Admiral. The men are a social cross section: one wears a feathered headdress, another a military outfit, a third striped pants like Uncle Sam, and the fourth (with pork-chop whiskers) is in a suit, vest, tie, and hat. Suddenly, the box pops open and a man emerges in Napoleonic admiralty garb: he hands out cigarettes, then tosses dozens of them on the ground as the men light up and unfurl a banner saying, "We all smoke." Smiling, everyone points to the billboard.One of the earliest projects the Edison Studios created (probably in July of 1897) was the advertising film Admiral Cigarette (1897), promoting the slogan "We All Smoke." The 28 second-long silent film was the first prototype commercial for the Admiral Cigarette company. Edison's film was the first advertising film, or commercial, to be submitted for copyright, on August 5, 1897.
- DirectorJames H. WhiteA vignette of a barroom/liquor-store in the West, no plot per se. However this short is usually regarded as the first "Western" in the sense that it depicts a western scene.One of the earliest "westerns." The 'first' western saloon setting.
- DirectorJames H. White"A decided shady game. Shows a novel way of filling a bobtail flush. Game breaks up in a general scrimmage. The barkeeper cools off the fighters by the judicious use of a siphon of vichy."One of the earliest "westerns."
- DirectorGeorge S. FlemingEdwin S. PorterStarsJames H. WhiteThomas WhitePorter's sequential continuity editing links several shots to form a narrative of the famous fairy tale story of Jack and his magic beanstalk. Borrowing on cinematographic methods reminiscent of 'Georges Melies', Porter uses animation, double exposure, and trick photography to illustrate the fairy's apparitions, Jack's dream, and the fast growing beanstalk.a short narrative film
- DirectorEdwin S. PorterStarsGilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' AndersonA.C. AbadieGeorge BarnesA group of bandits stage a brazen train hold-up, only to find a determined posse hot on their heels.It was the first narrative Western film with a storyline, and included various western cliches (a shoot-out, a robbery, a chase, etc.) that would be used by all future westerns.
It featured a future western film hero/star, Gilbert M. Anderson. - DirectorGeorge S. FlemingEdwin S. PorterStarsEdwin S. PorterVivian VaughanArthur WhiteA fireman rushes into a carriage to rescue a woman from a house fire. He breaks the windowpanes and carries the woman to safety; after dangerous and uncertain moments he also saves the woman's son.The first American documentary, docudrama, fictionalized biopic or realistic narrative film, with non-linear continuity.
- DirectorWallace McCutcheonKit Carson is captured by Indians and tied to a tree in the Indian village. An Indian maiden helps him make his escape.one of the earliest Western films
- DirectorJ. Searle DawleyStarsMiss EarleJinnie FrazerD.W. GriffithA family is terrified when an eagle carries off its young child.
- DirectorJ. Searle DawleyStarsMary FullerCharles OgleAugustus PhillipsThe first filmed version of Frankenstein. The young doctor discovers the secret of life, which he uses to create a perfect human. Things do not go according to plan.Link: https://archive.org/details/Frankenstein1910ThomasEdisonEarlySilentFilmYouTube