Thomas A. Edison Movies

A documentary overview of the career of silent cinema pioneer Edwin S. Porter.

A line is shot to the man clinging to the overturned boat. He fastens it to his body using all his fast failing strength. The crew pull him through...

Documentary focusing on the film careers F.W. Murnau, Frank Borzage and William Fox and their impact on the history of cinema.

An excellent view of 'The Finest,' on their annual parade and inspection, June 1, 1899. The head of the column is just turning into 14th street from...

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

The camera shows a view of the American Falls and Goat Island.

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

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

The dancer Fatima, well-known for her dancing shows at the World's Exhibition in 1893, performs for the camera. She opens her act by twirling around...

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

Film depicting the killing of Topsy, an elephant employed to help build Luna Park on Coney Island.

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...

A short documentary capturing the officers and crew of the USS Brooklyn during a naval parade in Brooklyn, New York, on October 1, 1898, following...

On February 17, 1913, after many years of R+D, Thomas Alva Edison introduced the Edison Kinetophone to an enthusiastic New York audience. The...

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

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

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...

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...

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