Monkeyshines, No 1.

Starring: Giuseppe Sacco Albanese
Directed by: William K.L. Dickson, William Heise
Rating: Not rated
Genre: Short, Documentary
Length: 28 seconds
1889

Times Seen:
Tim: 4

Summary: During an early camera test, a blurry subject moves within the frame.

Review:

Tim: The early days of cinema are so fascinating. Scholars aren't even sure when Monkeyshines, No. 1 was filmed- some believe 1889, some believe 1890. I went with the earlier date, but no one really knows. I find this film fascinating for the context surrounding it. The film itself isn't much to look at.

Let's talk about the film itself- a blurry person moves around in front of the camera. It's really just a camera test and the results are less than impressive, although it did represent a step forward. You can see movement captured on film, which was definitely a step in the right direction. However, there's no clarity to the film. You see an amorphous blob moving around, there's no definition at all. In some ways, it's a bit creepy, to see these undefined humanoid moving around. So, the film itself is two things- a remarkable achievement for those producing it, and a disappointment that the camera still needed a lot of work. The few seconds is basically just capturing movement. You can see the all-white subject against a very dark background. The person moves their arms around and there's a sense of shadow at a certain point on their own body. Again, not a compelling film, besides the interest from testing the camera.

Now, while this film is important for the work William K.L. Dickson and William Heise were doing, it lends substantial credit to Louis Le Prince, the originator of the motion picture machine. Compare this early camera test (1889 or 1890, remember), with the clear images Le Prince captured in 1888. Dickson and Heise did good work here, but they were obviously far behind Le Prince. That's really what makes this film fascinating. The movie itself, a white blob. But, the context is incredible- it's more evidence of how far ahead Le Prince was. His surviving films are far beyond the blurry human blob we see here. That being said, Monkeyshines No. 1 wasn't a final test, it was the first. Dickson and Heise were doing good work for Thomas Edison and would build on the success here. But again, any claim that Edison "invented" motion pictures is absurd and untrue.

For film buffs, Monkeyshines, No. 1 is definitely worth seeing. For anyone less enthralled with the early days of cinema, you could skip this- it's worth seeing, but there's not much to see in this early, early film.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



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