Movies: Thomas A. Edison

A graceful performance of the Mikado dance, featuring three Japanese women in elaborate traditional costume. Originally noted for its striking effect when hand-colored....

From Edison films catalog: One of the most peculiar customs of the Sioux Tribe is here shown, the dancers being genuine Sioux Indians, in full war paint and war costumes. 40 feet. 7.50. According to Edison film historian C. Musser, this film and othe...

Klingsor seeks admission to the Holy Grail. Evil summons Kundry. Herzeloid appears with the child Parsifal. Crowning of Amfortas. Wounding of Amfortas. Carrying Amfortas to his bath. Kundry brings relief to Amfortas. Parsifal reproached for killing t...

A line is shot to the man clinging to the overturned boat. He fastens it to his body using all his fast failing strength. The crew pull him through the surf to the shore, where he is rolled and patted and worked over until resuscitated....

A documentary overview of the career of silent cinema pioneer Edwin S. Porter....

A short Edison Black Maria studio film featuring famed sharpshooter Annie Oakley, known as “Little Sure Shot.” Born Phoebe Ann Oakley Mozee in Ohio in 1860, she rose to global fame performing with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. Accompanied (likely) b...

In this John Nesbitt's Passing Parade short, a look is taken at the problems of film preservation efforts in the 1930s and early 1940s....

Starting for the Fire (1896), directed by James H. White for the Edison Manufacturing Company, was filmed on location in Newark, New Jersey. The short captures the dramatic moment fire engines race into action, with teams of horses “dashing madly by,...

Three men hammer on an anvil and pass a bottle of beer around. Notable for being the first film in which a scene is being acted out....

This is a film taken of the execution of Topsy, an elephant employed to help build Luna Park on Coney Island....

James J. Corbett and Peter Courtney meet in a boxing exhibition....

Daily practice of life boat crew, showing boat being upset purposely by the men. As these boats are self-righting and self-bailing, the scene is particularly interesting....

A political boss antagonizes his constituents when he delivers an oratory while being fed talking points from his daughter who is reading from the wrong newspaper....

The dancer Fatima, well-known for her dancing shows at the World's Exhibition in 1893, performs for the camera. She opens her act by twirling around a few times, and then she does the 'muscle dance' for which she had attracted considerable notoriety....

This Edison short features famed cyclist Neidert performing a series of impressive bicycle stunts on stage, including riding backwards, balancing on one pedal, and rearing the bike onto its back wheel. The film was listed in Edison’s catalog as No. 2...

A short documentary capturing the officers and crew of the USS Brooklyn during a naval parade in Brooklyn, New York, on October 1, 1898, following the Spanish-American War. The film features the ship’s 300 Marines and the Marine Band, reflecting publ...

This 1894 film depicts a staged “war council” featuring a group of Sioux men in traditional dress, seated in deliberation as Buffalo Bill Cody addresses them....

By the time he died in 1931, Thomas Alva Edison was one of the most famous men in the world. The holder of more patents than any other inventor in history, Edison had achieved glory as the genius behind such revolutionary inventions as sound recordin...

An excerpt of the Shakespeare play presented in the Kinetophone sound system, in which the sound was provided by synchronized Edison cylinders....

This Edison short delivers everything the title says. In 24-seconds we see a boat being lowered into the water led by Capt. Joseph Hodgson. The boat is put into the water and it quickly disappears out of frame on a drill helping them prepare for a re...