In a technical sense, this second Edison Company "Monkeyshines" camera experiment represents a slight (perhaps very slight) improvement on the first movie. Paradoxically, for that reason it is actually a little less interesting (because less bizarre) to view. But its historical significance is still considerable.
As with the first "Monkeyshines" movie, this one consists of some brief footage of playful activity in the Edison Company facility. Compared with the first one, the figures are a little less ghostly and a little better defined, and the motions are slightly easier to determine. It still has the weird, surreal appearance of aliens or ghosts or abstract shapes, just not to quite the same degree.
Both "Monkeyshines" features were made when Edison was pursuing the idea of a cylindrical approach to motion pictures, by close analogy with his successful phonograph idea. The recent Kino DVD collection of Edison features has (as extras) a few photographs of the film and the equipment that were used in these early experiments, and they are quite interesting to look at for anyone with an interest in these earliest efforts to create movies.
As with the first "Monkeyshines" movie, this one consists of some brief footage of playful activity in the Edison Company facility. Compared with the first one, the figures are a little less ghostly and a little better defined, and the motions are slightly easier to determine. It still has the weird, surreal appearance of aliens or ghosts or abstract shapes, just not to quite the same degree.
Both "Monkeyshines" features were made when Edison was pursuing the idea of a cylindrical approach to motion pictures, by close analogy with his successful phonograph idea. The recent Kino DVD collection of Edison features has (as extras) a few photographs of the film and the equipment that were used in these early experiments, and they are quite interesting to look at for anyone with an interest in these earliest efforts to create movies.