Monkeyshines (1889)

Original title

Monkeyshines, No. 1

Directed by

William Heise, William Kennedy Dickson

Genre

documentary film, silent film

Country

United States

Runtime

56 min

Rating

5.0 of 10 from 106 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This is a series of very short silent test films made for the Kinetoscope camera. They show a blurry lab worker in white making big gestures in one spot. The films were internal experiments, not for public release, and were rediscovered later by historians.

experimentalhistoricalfragmentaryblurrysilentbriefobscureacademic

What happens

Monkeyshines is a series of experimental short silent films made to test the original cylinder format of the Kinetoscope; those films are believed to be the first to be shot in the United States. Monkeyshines, No. 1 was shot by William K. L. Dickson and William Heise for the Edison labs. Scholars have differing opinions on whether the first was shot in June 1889 starring Fred Ott or at some time between November 21–27, 1890, starring Giuseppe Sacco Albanese. Both men were fellow lab workers at the company; contradictory evidence exists for each claim. Monkeyshines, No. 2 and Monkeyshines, No. 3 quickly followed to test further conditions. These films were intended to be internal tests of the new camera system, and were not created for commercial use; their rise to prominence resulted much later due to work by film historians. All three films show a blurry figure in white standing in one place making large gestures and are only a few seconds long. Monkeyshines No. 3 has disappeared and may be lost. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

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• Monkeyshines, No. 3 (1890)
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