Film Information

An Interactive History of the Edison Company and the Invention of the Motion Picture. An unprecedented collection from Kino International and the Film/Media Department of The Museum of Modern Art together with the Library of Congress

Featuring

• 140 complete EDISON COMPANY films 1891-1918 restored and newly mastered for DVD with all new musical scores
• Over two hundred scans of artifacts from MOMA'S EDISON COLLECTION never available to the public before Including:
  * Stills * Script fragments * Interoffice memos * Promotions
• Film by film Program notes by Charles Musser, the world's leading authority on the films of the Thomas Edison studio
• Two Hours of interviews with archivists and Early Cinema Scholars
  * Steven Higgins - Curator, Department of Film and Media, The Museum of Modern Art
  * Charles Musser - Professor of Film and American Studies, Yale University
  * Patrick Loughney - Head, Moving Image Section, The Library of Congress
  * Michelle Wallace - Professor of English, The City College
  * Eileen Bowser - Curator Emerita, The Museum of Modern Art
  * Paul Israel - Director and editor of the Edison Papers
  * Richard Koszarski - Associate Professor of English, Rutgers University
  

DVD ONE
1889-91: Early Edison Camera Tests (Monkey-shines, no. 1; Dickson Greeting; Newark Athlete (with Indian Clubs); Men Boxing) 1893: Blacksmithing Scene * The Barber Shop 1894: Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze * Athlete with Wand * Sandow * Carmencita * Boxing Cats * Caicedo with Pole * Annabelle Butterfly Dance * Cockfight, no. 2 * Corbett and Courtney Before the Kinetograph * Sioux Ghost Dance * Buffalo Dance * The Hornbacker-Murphy Fight * Hadj Cheriff, Arab Knife Juggler * Glenroy Bros., no. 2 * Louis Martinetti, Contortionist * Bucking Broncho * Annie Oakley * Imperial Japanese Dance * Robetta and Doretto, Chinese Laundry Scene * Band Drill * Fire Rescue 1895: Billy Edwards and the Unknown * Dickson Experimental Sound Film * Princess Ali, Egyptian Dance * Annabelle Serpentine Dance * The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots 1896: Amy Muller * The John C. Rice-May Irwin Kiss * Shooting the Chutes * Fatima, Muscle Dancer (original and censored versions) * Mess Call * Inventor Edison Sketched by World Artist * Watermelon Eating Contest * The Lone Fisherman * Interrupted Lovers * Feeding the Doves * A Morning Bath * The Burning Stable * Mounted Police Charge * McKinley Parade * Going to the Fire * A Morning Alarm * Black Diamond Express * American Falls from Above, American Side * The First Sleigh Ride * The Morning Alarm 1897: Mr. Edison at Work in His Chemical Laboratory * Return of Lifeboat 1898: Troop Ships for the Philippines * U. S. Troops Landing at Daiquiri, Cuba * The Burglar on the Roof 1899: Firemen Rescuing Men and Women * A Wringing Good Joke * Gold Rush Scenes in the Klondike 1900: Searching Ruins on Broadway for Dead Bodies, Galveston * The Kiss * Capture of Boer Battery by British * A Storm at Sea 1901: Old Maid Having Her Picture Taken * High Diving Scene * Photo-graphing a Country Couple * What Happened on Twenty-Third Street, New York City * Pan-American Exposition by Night * Trapeze Disrobing Act 1902: The Burning of Durland's Riding Academy * Jack and the Beanstalk 1903: Electrocuting an Elephant * The Life of an American Fireman * Egyptian Fakir with Dancing Monkey * A Scrap in Black and White * Uncle Tom's Cabin * The Gay Shoe Clerk * Turning the Tables * What Happened in the Tunnel * The Great Train Robbery

DVD TWO
1904: European Rest Cure * How a French Nobleman Got a Wife Through the New York Herald Personal Columns * The Strenuous Life; or, Anti-Race Suicide * The Ex-Convict 1905: The Klepto-maniac * The Seven Ages * The Whole Dam Family and the Dam Dog * Coney Island at Night * The Little Train Robbery * The White Caps * The Miller's Daughter * Train Wreckers * Life of an American Policeman * Police Chasing Scorching Auto 1906: The Dream of a Rarebit Fiend * Three American Beauties * Films of The San Francisco Earthquake * The Terrible Kids * Kathleen Mavourneen * Getting Evidence 1907: The "Teddy" Bears

DVD THREE
Cohen's Fire Sale * The Rivals * The Trainer's Daughter; or, A Race for Love * College Chums * Laughing Gas * A Little Girl Who Did Not Believe in Santa Claus 1908: A Suburbanite's Ingenious Alarm * Rescued From an Eagle's Nest * Fireside Reminiscences * Cupid's Pranks * Tale the Autumn Leaves Told (fragment) 1909: The House of Cards 1910: New York of Today * How Bumptious Papered the Parlor 1912: Thirty Days at Hard Labor * The Passer-by * The Totville Eye * The Public and Private Care of Infants 1913: An Unsullied Shield

DVD FOUR
At Bear Track Gulch * The Ambassador's Daughter * A Serenade by Proxy * All On Account of a Transfer 1914: One Touch of Nature * The Adventure of the Hasty Elopement 1915: The Wonders of Magnetism * Black Eyes * The Lone Game 1918: The Unbeliever

"A brilliant and engrossing collection, essential for the film scholar...and fascinating for anybody who loves movies" -- Tim Page, Smithsonian Magazine, March 2006

"Kino’s four-disc collection Edison: The Invention of the Movies sets the bar early and high for the best DVD release of 2005." -- LA Weekly

"It's a film buff's delight as you see the medium evolve from a novelty item that could only be viewed by one person at a time in a big box, to projected images on a big screen that have been captivating audiences for over a century. Edison: The Invention of the Movies is in video stores now. If you're interested in the history of movies or if you love old New York, check it out." -- NY1 TV

"This is a truly impressive collection. This wide variety of films that span nearly 30 years wonderfully chronicles the changes that motion pictures went through in the early years. The evolution of story telling technique is very well illustrated through these films. A set that all students of early cinema should be sure to obtain. Highly Recommended." -- DVD Savant

"Watching them is to see the language of cinema developing before your eyes." -- Time Out New York

"Kino's four-disc comprehensive collection of 140 films from the studio of Thomas Edison is remarkable...The digital transfers are excellent." -- The San Francisco Chronicle

"For the movie collector and cinephile, this gorgeously designed four-disc box is kinda like a discovered trunkload of priceless, pristine Caruso 78s, or a secret cellar of post-war Latour....It's more than home video -- it's history written with, sure, lightning." -- The Village Voice

"Purely as a moviegoing experience, this is exciting stuff - one of the most impressive DVD projects to date. The deceptively slim carton encompasses a cinematic museum and provides a portal into a past not yet blanketed in self-consciousness." -- The New York Sun

"Splendidly produced" -- The New York Times