Movies: Thomas A. Edison

Experimental test footage from Edison’s earliest motion picture work, capturing camera trials, exposure studies, and mechanical movement. Likely filmed by Edison staff in the early 1890s, it survives today in the Library of Congress collection. The f...

A short Edison Kinetophone film, part of Edison’s early experiments in synchronizing sound and image. Distributed by General Film Company. (Plot, cast, and running time are not fully documented in surviving sources.)...

This film captures the departure of the 2nd Special Service Battalion, Canadian Infantry, from Quebec for the war in South Africa. Soldiers in campaign uniform march under a triumphal arch to the cheers of flag-waving crowds before proceeding to the ...

A comedy of a young man’s humiliating initiation into a woman-hating men’s club, The Five Jolly Bachelors. With Eddie Boulden and the Edison Quartet....

An Edison Kinetophone short featuring leading suffragists Harriet May Mills, Mrs. James Lees Laidlaw, Mrs. Raymond Brown, Mrs. John Rogers, Jr., and Elizabeth Freeman delivering speeches in support of women’s right to vote. Produced as part of Edison...

Shows ice plows in operation, drawn by horses and guided by men on skates. The plows are first operated in one direction and then crosswise, cutting to within four inches of the bottom, after which men saw and cut the ice entirely off in about twelve...

A showcase of trapeze artist Alciede Capitaine, billed as “The Perfect Woman,” whose daring feats on the flying bar combined grace with breathtaking athleticism. Produced by Edison in 1898, this title should not be confused with Dickson’s earlier 189...

The Old Violin (1914) is a Kinetophone short produced by Edison, directed by Daniel Higham. The film features an elderly violinist reprimanding a young servant for playing ragtime music. Upon discovering the servant is an orphan with only an old viol...

The camera shows a view of the American Falls and Goat Island....

A group of Jewish men in Jerusalem perform a dance....

With a tree-lined river bank dominating the top and back of the frame, the Charles River flows toward a stationary camera. A flotilla of canoes passes by. Some have one occupant, some two, a few three or four. Some men wear ties, a few wear boaters. ...

An Edison Kinetophone short presenting an on-stage minstrel company performing musical numbers and patter; made as part of Edison’s early synchronized sound demonstrations....

A short Edison Kinetophone film, distributed by General Film Company, representative of Edison’s early sound-film experiments. Details on plot, cast, and runtime are not fully documented in surviving sources....

The crew of seven dressed in cork jackets, push the boat through the surf; they clamber in and row out to the wreck. 50 ft....

Two cocks fight whilst being watched by two men....

A Kinetophone short featuring Andrew Carnegie speaking on “The Duty of the Wealthy Man,” recorded January 20, 1914, at Edison’s Bronx studio (production number 5113). The motion picture element is presumed lost; however, the synchronized sound cylind...

A location actuality filmed in Philadelphia (May 27–28, 1904) documenting the Inter-Collegiate Athletic Association’s championships: sprint and field events, crowds, and collegiate pageantry, presented with intertitle introductions....

The evening presentation of distinguished guests from earlier that afternoon....

Filmed on January 1, 1899, this Edison short shows a victory march by General Lee and the Seventh Army Corps. When watching these early films it's best to look at them as a newsreel because you're really not going to get any type of entertainment lik...

American Falls, from Incline R.R. (1896) is a brief silent actuality directed by James H. White and produced by Thomas A. Edison. Filmed from a tourist-friendly incline railway in early December 1896, it presents a striking view of the American Falls...