Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze

This film was purely made for publicity purposes, as a series of still photographs to accompany an article in Harper's weekly, so it wasn't even supposed to be even ever shown as a motion-picture in the first place. It must have been a real blast for Edison and Co. to make this movie and I'm sure it good a good laugh out of people at the time.

To me the sneeze itself really didn't seemed real, also because of the reason that of course in those days they couldn't shoot for several minutes straight, in order to wait for Fred Ott to finally sneeze. But who knows, maybe that really is how people sneezed over 100 years ago. It was a very highly sophisticated looking sneeze. A real gentleman's sneeze.

The movie isn't looking of the greatest quality but this is of course all due to the fact that this film was never meant to be shown as a motion-picture in the first place.

The film is historically interesting for a couple of reasons 1. It of course is the first ever recorded sneeze, as if that is really historically significant. 2. It was the first ever motion picture to be registered with the U.S. Copyright Office and 3. It's the first film to feature a close-up of a persons face. So without really knowing at the time, and without those intentions I would guess, this movie has become part of film-history.

8/10

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In this film, Fred Ott, an employee of Thomas Edison, takes a pinch of snuff and sneezes. It's not a particularly dramatic sneeze. In fact, if I hadn't known it was a film showing a man sneeze, I wouldn't have been sure what he was doing. It looked more like an artificially vigorous yawn after a nose scratch.

The film was made sometime in the first week of January, 1894, and was projected through Edison's Kinetoscope, a projector that only one viewer could use at a time by looking through a peephole at the top of the device. The film was actually not initially meant to be shown as a film to audiences. Rather, it was shot for publicity reasons, to generate a series of still photographs for a Harper's Weekly article. Edison and company, led by William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, had been gearing up for commercial production of films since late 1891. Fred Ott's Sneeze was an important promotional idea which was to help with this.

The film is significant for featuring the first medium close-up shot of a performer, now one of the most common types of shots used in film and television.

This film might have been the greatest movie ever made but it is full of mysteries. I will quote some of the questions you should ask yourself while watching this movie numbering them.

1 - Is the sneeze real?

How do we know the sneeze is a real sneeze or a wonderful piece of acting by the great Ott? 2 - If the sneeze was real, what caused it?

As we know it, Ott might have been allergic to something waved in front of him by Edison himself. In this case we should feel sorry for Ott and what he went through to create this masterpiece.

3 - What does he say during the sneeze?

We don't know whether he made rude sound or a more polite sound.

4 - Did Edison even bother to say "Bless you"?

Because the sneeze is silent, I wonder did Edison at least say "Bless you" or not? Mysteries that will never have an answer. Bet you didn't think a sneeze hid so many mysteries.

Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze (1894)

**** (out of 4)

If entertainment is what you're seeking then don't take my four-star review meaning a great movie. The word entertainment might not fit too well with these early films but on a historical level this here is one of the all time greats. Running just five seconds we see a man sneeze. Yes, that's all there is to it. This is famous for many reasons including it being one of the earliest films made by Edison. According to records it was filmed on January 7th, 1894 and became the first movie to have a copyright two days later.

This is it. This is ground zero. This is what led to Gone With The Wind, The Godfather, Star Wars and Titanic. You could arguably call it the first successful action movie. No idea what the gross was or what the overseas receipts were but certainly many a coin was spent by early film patrons to witness the most basic of human acts... the instinctual expulsion of invading micro-particles for the maintenance of Fred Ott's health. But, did Fred Ott fake it? Was he truly the first stunt man? No matter, its brevity and succinctness are exemplary to this day. It is better than some 3 hour epics in today's multiplexes.