Caicedo (with Pole)

Sandow (1894)

Carmencita (1894)

Boxing Cats (1894)

Caicedo With Pole (1894)

Annabelle Butterfly Dance (1894)

Cockfight, no. 2 (1894)

These six shorts from Edison, still early in the movie game, are rather interesting because of the self promoting factor in them. It's clear a few famous folks thought appearing in movies might bring more people to their actual show and on that level these shorts remain very interesting today. That's especially true when you consider the lack of footage of such acts. Sandow is Eugene Sandow, the man who claimed to be the strongest in the world. Shot on March 6, 1894, we see Sandow flexing in various ways in front of the camera. I'm not sure what he was thinking at the time of shooting but seeing this today is quite a laugh. Carmencita is the famous dancer doing her belly dance on screen making her the first woman to appear in an American movie. The film has become somewhat famous over the past several years because of various documentaries doing studies about early sexuality and how it caused so much controversy. This film, as innocent as they come, did strike a bit of outrage when originally released so it's fun to look at with that in mind. It's also worth noting that this was the first movie listed on the IMDb. Boxing Cats would have PETA members throwing a fit today but in 1894 seeing two animals fight, in a funny manor, was quite entertaining. Prof. Welton can be seen in the center of the frame directing his two cats, with boxing gloves on, to fight. This is actually pretty funny and it's worth noting that the cats throw more punches than a lot of the real fights that were filmed around this time with humans. Caicedo With Pole has hire-wire specialist Juan Caicedo jumping, bouncing and flipping on his wire, which must have been an amazing site when originally released. Annabelle Butterfly Dance features the famous Annabelle Moore dancing around a stage in a white outfit with wings attached. This here probably remains one of the most viewed shorts from this era with its images being shown throughout the world when it comes to exploring early cinema. Cockfight, no. 2 would be controversial today as it features two birds going after one another while two men in the background make bets. This was actually a remake so to speak as the original film was released earlier in the year and was apparently so popular that the prints wore out, which caused the studio to make this version. Apparently the original version didn't feature the men in the background.

"Caicedo (with Pole)" is one of two known films shot of the well-known high wire specialist Juan Caicedo and released by the Edison company for the Kinetoscope parlors in 1894. The other, which was also possibly shot outdoors, was "Caicedo (with Spurs)" of the same year. Despite the fact that the latter is supposedly lost, we can assume that both fall into the performance film genre that was popular during Edison first years (1894-1896), and that both were no doubt quite revolutionary because of how strongly they tested the possibilities of the motion picture camera. Caicedo's smooth movements as he relaxingly flips and bounces on the wire are, quite simply put, very demanding of the invention to do its job. Again, the brief footage no doubt comprises only excerpts from the original act performed for the circus.

I think that the most interesting thing to be observed about this particular performance in the end is, outside the talent the act required, the concept of outdoor filming. Up until now, almost all of the Edison company's movies had been shot inside their Black Maria studio, known for its boring black backgrounds and lack of sets. Part of the reason this was was no doubt due to lighting issues; for a motion picture camera to work right in that day, proper lighting had to be created for the filming. Obviously, this had to be the case with Edison's Kinetograph, which was probably even more so that way then future inventions. (Note how the whites in some of the Lumière movies are overexposed; this reason alone was probably the cause of that). I don't know enough about the proper exposures for such filmmaking, so I won't go into detail.

My guess is that since the high wire couldn't be stretched just so in the studio, they were forced into doing it in different conditions, which, in this case, appear to be in someone's backyard. From my own research, "Caicedo (with Pole)" was probably not the first film to do such a different thing, however: "Fred Ott Holding a Bird" from the same year also seems to take place outside a building. Finally, as the latter appears to be a test film like "Fred Ott's Sneeze", it was no doubt filmed earlier the same year, probably beating this film to the title of the first Edison film shot outside by several months.

This short Edison feature does a good job of filming its subject, which in this case is high-wire specialist Juan Caicedo. It is one of many very early movies that, in addition to their value as historical examples in the development of cinema, have also preserved for later generations the memory of some of the era's popular performers who otherwise have long since been forgotten.

This one is notable in that it was the first of the Edison movies to be filmed outdoors, since it was felt (no doubt correctly) that filming the act in Edison's 'Black Maria' studio would not have worked as well. Therefore, you get to see Caicedo use his balancing pole to perform a number of feats of skill in a more natural setting. One interesting and (presumably) unintentional feature is that whenever the wire is straight, it is aligned with a fence rail in the background, making the wire seem temporarily invisible.

Most likely, Caicedo had to make some changes in his routine to keep all the action within the fixed camera field. But he and the Edison film crew seem to have worked together pretty well, since almost everything stays in view. Between that and the outdoor photography, this movie does a good job at what it set out to do.

This movie short can go down in history as the first ever Edison production to be filmed outdoors. It picked an interesting and nice subject of having a rope and slack wire walker doing a couple of tricks outdoors.

The rope and slack wire walker is Juan A. Caicedo. A Venezuelan who performed a couple of times in the United States, also in 1894, when this film got shot. He really shows that he was not just any ordinary rope and slack wire walker and he does lots of jumping and bouncing within this movie, without of course falling off, or every loosing his balance. He is not on an incredible height but the things he does do look pretty dangerous nonetheless. I for one certainly wouldn't want to attempt trying all that he does within this movie short. No wonder he got called the 'king of the wire'.

It seems pretty amazing to me that he actually managed to stay within the camera it's field. A real achieved once you see what kind of tricks he does. Sort of makes you wonder how many takes it took them to finally get the right and wanted result. You can also conclude from this that this movie was well staged and set up by its director, whoever that was. Most likely it was just William Heise, the camera operator who also performed the directing duties that this movie short required.

A nice to watch kinetographic experiment.

8/10

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Juan A. Caicedo, does a number of stunts on the slack wire. This is the first Edison motion picture to be filmed outdoors. Due to the nature of Caicedo's act, the director WKL Dickson could not have filmed this inside Edison's Black Maria Studio. Caicedo and Dickson worked very well together. The framing of this shot and Caicedo's actions were matched perfectly. Even in his more vigorous jumps, Caicedo never goes out of frame. This is one of a number of films of performers released by Edison in 1894.