The Edison Motion Picture Myth

"This book provides essential documentation of all known Edison films made between 1890 and 1900. Thomas Edison and his associates at the Edison Laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey, invented the first system of commercial motion pictures." "Making the historical framework predominant while retaining traditional cataloging features, Edison Motion Pictures, 18901900 is of value to a wide range of scholars interested in American life at the turn of the century - those working in performance studies, film and media studies, cultural history, ethnic studies, and social and political history. Documentary filmmakers, film programmers, archivists, and librarians can also benefit from using this catalog." "Edison films from the end of the nineteenth century offer a unique visual record of American entertainment and popular culture - moving images that become much more interesting and useful when they can be examined in conjunction with pertinent documentation." "Scholars concerned with portrayals of war, depictions of the American presidency, and many other topics in the nation's political history will find much useful information."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

In this first systematic treatment of Thomas A. Edision's fictional and documentary film output during the 1890s, Charles Musser provides production specifications, Edison company summaries, newspaper accounts, frame enlargements, and other documentation.

Much controversy has surrounded Thomas A. Edison's role in the birth of motion pictures. His earliest biographers gave all honor to him; later historians gave credit to his assistants or to foreign inventors whose recognition Edison stole. Charles Musser provides a balanced assessment, arguing that while Edison left the day-to-day experimentation to his talented employees, he provided the ideas and encouragement as well as financial support. Without him, the technical hurdles would not have been overcome so quickly. As time went on, and innovations in the motion picture business shifted from improving machines to improving the moving pictures themselves and the meyhods of exhibiting them, Edison's Laboratory lost its advantage. After three decades of patent wars and attempted monopolization of cameras and projectors, the battle moved away from the inventor and toward the producers and nickelodeon owners. Edison briefly experimented with a home movie projector, to steal a march on his rivals, but he was way ahead of his time. After thirty years, he closed down his movie studio and moved on to other projects. This brief, informative story of Edison's key contributions to the invention of motion pictures is heavily illustrated and beautifully designed.

In 1888 Louis Le Prince shot the world's first motion picture. In 1890, weeks before the public unveiling of his camera and projector - a year before Thomas Edison announced that he had invented a motion picture camera - Le Prince stepped on a train in France - and disappeared without a trace. He was never seen or heard from again, and his body never found

From stereoview cards to large-format IMAX films, 3-D technology's heightened realism and powerful visual allure have held audiences captive for over a century and a half. The technology, known as stereoscopy, creates an illusion of depth by presenting two slightly different images to the eye in print or on-screen. The advent of stereoscopic film technology excited both filmmakers and audiences, as a means of replicating all of the sounds, colors, movement, and dimensionality of life and nature for the first time. The origins of 3-D film are often linked with a proliferation of stereoscopic films in the 1950s. By the time films like Man in the Dark and House of Wax was attracting large crowds, however, the technology behind this form of filmmaking was already over a century old. Stereoscopic Cinema and the Origins of 3-D Film, 1838--1952, examines this "novelty period" of stereoscopic film, charting its progression from Charles Wheatstone's 1938 discovery of 3-D to the 1952 release of Arch Oboler's innovative film, Bwana Devil. Stereoscopic specialist Ray Zone argues that the development of stereoscopic film can best be understood through a historical analysis of the technology rather than of its inventors. Zone examines the products used to create stereoscopic images, noting such milestones as David Brewster's and Oliver Wendell Holmes's work with stereoscopes, the use of polarizing image selection, and the success of twin-strip 3-D films, among others. In addition, Zone looks at the films produced up to 1952, discussing public reception of early 3-D short films as well as longer features such as Power of Love in single-strip anaglyphic projection in 1922 and Semyon Ivanov's 1941 autostereoscope Robinson Crusoe. He integrates his examination of the evolution of 3-D film with other cinematic developments, demonstrating the connection between stereoscopic motion pictures and modern film production. Stereoscopic Cinema and the Origins of 3-D Film, 1838--1952, is an exhaustive study of not only the evolution of 3-D technology and the subsequent filmmaking achievements but also the public response to and cultural impact of 3-D movies. Zone takes the reader on a voyage of discovery into the rich history of a field that predates photography and that continues to influence television and computer animation today.

"The most important book on early American cinema yet to appear. At once a compelling biography and a fundamentally new view of a major cultural phenomenon, it offers fresh perspectives on the development of twentieth-century American society."--Robert Sklar, author of Movie-Made America