Thomas A. Edison Movies

A satirical short produced to highlight the unreasonable extremes of local film censorship—a film so heavily censored that only the title cards...

A location actuality filmed in Philadelphia (May 27–28, 1904) documenting the Inter-Collegiate Athletic Association’s championships:...

The only known moving-image footage of the author, filmed at his home, Stormfield, in Redding, Connecticut. The silent short shows Twain walking...

Experimental test footage from Edison’s earliest motion picture work, capturing camera trials, exposure studies, and mechanical movement....

This film records the arrival of the Governor General of Canada, the Earl of Minto, accompanied by the Countess of Minto and their household, as they...

Two cocks fight whilst being watched by two men.

The Passion Play of Oberammergau (1898) presents scenes from the famed Bavarian passion play, dramatizing the final days of Jesus Christ—from...

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...

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

“This film is remarkable in several respects. In the first place, it is full life-size. Secondly, it is the only accurate recent portrait of...

A six-part documentary recording the 74-year-old Edison's collaborations with his staff, conversations with industrial leaders, and supervision of...

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...

The Birth of the Telephone (1914) is a Kinetophone short produced by Edison, featuring Thomas A. Watson, assistant to Alexander Graham Bell,...

The Old Violin (1914) is a Kinetophone short produced by Edison, directed by Daniel Higham. The film features an elderly violinist reprimanding a...

An Edison Kinetophone short featuring leading suffragists Harriet May Mills, Mrs. James Lees Laidlaw, Mrs. Raymond Brown, Mrs. John Rogers, Jr., and...

A short film in which the members of the Motion Pictures Patents Company (which had been founded only a year earlier) congratulate Thomas 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...

A short Edison Kinetophone film, part of Edison’s early experiments in synchronizing sound and image. Distributed by General Film Company....

This short captures the thrill of winter sport in Canada, showing skiers racing downhill at high speed before leaping over a snow-built hurdle. Most...

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...