Annie Oakley

Like many of the earliest Edison Kinetoscope movies, this one showed a popular entertainment figure performing one of her specialties. It's an interesting attempt, and it's nice to have something preserved on film of Annie Oakley, one of the legends of her day. But the footage that resulted is clearly limited by the constraints of the studio.

Like most of the earliest Edison movies, this was filmed inside their 'Black Maria' studio. That setting worked very well in producing movies of various dancers, vaudeville acts, and the like. But with Annie Oakley, it forces her to squeeze her routine into an area much smaller than normal, and while she does a pretty good job anyway, it's clear that under the conditions to which she was more accustomed, she would have done much better.

It was not long at all before the Edison film-makers began to film subjects outdoors when it better suited the material. Even then, though, the scale and speed of Oakley's regular act would probably have created an insurmountable challenge to film with the equipment available in the 1890s. All the same, it's nice to be able to see moving footage of her, so as to be able to flesh out this legendary figure just a little bit better.

What an interesting little piece of very early film by Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope studio. From the start, even the inventors in the communications field had savvy for marketing. What better way to tout the new motion picture camera than to show a legendary person of the time, Annie Oakley, doing what made her famous?

Another reviewer noted that Oakley appeared to miss all the glass balls tossed in the air. Indeed, this short shows most of them dropping back down and no splattering fragments from hits. I wonder if that wasn't intentional here. The guy who was tossing them was looking right at them and no more than a few feet from where they would be hit and shattered. He wasn't wearing any kind of eye protection and surely would have been pelted with glass splinters had Oakley hit any of the balls. This studio was a single room building that rotated on tracks to follow the sun. The "Black Maria," as it was called, was a very small space, which made it more dangerous for scenes of rifle shooting.

In any event, this was a successful venture for Edison's company. And Annie Oakley continued to entertain the throngs with her dead-eye shooting skills. She performed for crowds that included royalty around the world. For many years, she was a leading draw for Buffalo Bill's Wild West show that performed from 1883 to 1913. Two very good movies have been made about her. "Annie Oakley" of 1935 stars Barbara Stanwyck with a fine cast and a good portrayal of what Buffalo Bill's show must have been like. A 1950 musical comedy biography, "Annie Get Your Gun," stars Betty Hutton and Howard Keel.

For those interested in the technical development of the movies, here's how this little short film came about. Thomas Edison's phonograph, invented in 1877, became so popular that he wanted a way to put music with pictures. Of course, it would take more time to perfect that process (the late 1920s), but in 1888 Edison charged his assistant, William Dickson, with the task of creating a motion picture camera. Dickson pulled together the research and technology of British, French and American scientists and researchers, and used the new American technology of celluloid film to make the first motion picture camera.

This short film is important for 2 reasons: One, because it's real footage of the legendary Annie Oakley; two, because it is the earliest known depiction of the American west. Not The Great Train Robbery (1903), not Kindnapping by Indians (1899), but this. In 1894, there were anthers like this - Bucking Bronco, Sioux Ghost Dance, - but this is the earliest. While The Great Train Robbery kickstarted the genre as a 12 minute story, this film was the beginning. However, this is just a 20 second recording. So it isn't much, but I gave it a 10 star rating because its an important part of history, and it's impressive to see someone with such good aim exploding glass orbs. It's obviously not iconic or a masterpiece, but it's a great way to spend 26 seconds, and everyone should see it.

As the commercial exploitation of the kinetoscope grew, filmmakers realized they needed to produce films that appealed to an audience that included middle-class women. This film was produced with this audience in mind where Oakley demonstrated her awesome marksmanship.

Great short film of what is possibly the first film featuring a firearm. Annie Oakley shows off her stuff and looks very good doing it.

10* (10* Rating System)

A little slice of American History from the Edison Black Maria studio from November of 1894 shows the real life Annie Oakley shooting fixed targets and airbourne tossed glass balls. Truly a fascinating little piece of film that bridges the real Wild West with a theme that was to run through countless fictional movies in the century to follow.