Souvenir Strip of the Edison Kinetoscope (1894) Directed by William K.L. Dickson

(Review originally written at 16 November 2007)

This is the first Edison film that actually features a 'celiberity', which makes this a bit more than just another typical usual Edison Manufacturing Company film, by William K.L. Dickson.

The man in the film was Eugen Sandow (real name Friederich Wilhelm Mueller). He claimed to have been the strongest person alive at the time and who knows, maybe he was. I mean, it was not like bodybuilding was an extremely popular or common thing back in 1894. He was quite a celebrity back in his time and had friends in the highs societies of which Thomas Edison also appeared to be one of. He also seemed to be a generous person, who also contributed a lot to the world of bodybuilding. Some of his influences and ideas are even still notable today.

He takes lots of different positions within this short film, exhibiting his muscular physique. Sometimes he goes a bit out of frame with his arms, which of course obviously was not intended and sort of makes you question if Edison and Co. were also happy with the result.

Even though he was only 27 at the time, he looked much older. He also died at a fairly young age of 58 years. But who knows, perhaps he looks old in this because the image quality of course also isn't the highest.

Perhaps historical a significant film because of the person that's featuring in it, but from a more experimentally significant kind of view, this film doesn't add an awful lot.

6/10