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Newark Athlete

Name: Newark Athlete
Genre: Documentary
Released: 1891-05-01
Duration: 1 min
Rating: 4.6

★ 4,6 /10 (88 Votes)

1891 XX 1 min

Overview

Produced May-June 1891, this experimental film fragment was one of the first made in America at the Edison Laboratory in West Orange, N.J. The filmmakers were W.K.L. Dickson and William Heise, both of whom were employed as inventors and engineers in the industrial research facility owned by Thomas Edison. Heise and especially Dickson made important technical contributions during 1891-1893 with a horizontal-feed kinetograph camera and viewer, using 3/4-inch wide film. Leading to the invention of the world’s first successful motion picture camera—the Edison Kinetograph—and to the playback device required for viewing early peepshow films—the Edison Kinetoscope. Named to the National Film Registry in 2010.

Release date

01/05/1891

Votes

Popularity

0.4

Genres

Documentary

Status

Released

Language

Runtime

1 min

Original Soundtrack

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Being able to view this short film is very neat. Seeing something so old preserved in such a state makes being able to witnessed film history quite satisfying. However, it's age doesn't forgive the material itself to be quite boring. I have no idea if faster prints of the film exist, but seeing a young man swing around clubs slowly isn't anything too spectacular. Definitely a form of entertainment from an era long gone.

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