Thomas A. Edison Movies

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

A graceful performance of the Mikado dance, featuring three Japanese women in elaborate traditional costume. Originally noted for its striking effect...

Metropolitan Opera stars, tenor Enrico Caruso and bass-baritone Pol Plancon, in a scene from the opera "Lucia di Lammermoor" filmed in Edison...

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...

Starting for the Fire (1896), directed by James H. White for the Edison Manufacturing Company, was filmed on location in Newark, New Jersey. The...

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

A formerly lost Edison film from 1912.

This Edison short features famed cyclist Neidert performing a series of impressive bicycle stunts on stage, including riding backwards, balancing on...

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

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

A veteran of the Napoleanic Wars recounts his memories and grants his blessings upon the marriage of his granddaughter and a young soldier.

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

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

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

Daily practice of life boat crew, showing boat being upset purposely by the men. As these boats are self-righting and self-bailing, the scene is...

This Edison short delivers everything the title says. In 24-seconds we see a boat being lowered into the water led by Capt. Joseph Hodgson. The boat...

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

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 comic short in which a tramp attempts to ride a bicycle, tumbling repeatedly before giving up in despair. A skilled rider then takes the stage,...

“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...