Monkeyshines, No. 1

(1890)

★ 5.1 IMDb · 109 votes

Genres: Documentary

Year: 1890

Runtime: 1 мин

Country: United States of America

Director: William Heise, William K.L. Dickson

Cast: G. Sacco Albanese

Plot

Experimental film made to test the original cylinder format of the Kinetoscope and believed to be the first film shot in the United States. It shows a blurry figure in white standing in one place making large gestures and is only a few seconds long.

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 John Ott or sometime between November 21-27, 1890 starring G. Sacco Albanese. Both men were fellow lab workers at the company; contradictory evidence exists for each claim. The film was intended to be internal test of the new camera system, and was not created for commercial use; its rise to prominence resulted much later due to work by film historians. The film shows a blurry figure in white standing in one place making large gestures and are only a few seconds long.