Annie Oakley

It is first film where someone is starring. And who is starring there? See title of movie. You don't know who is Annie Oakley? I did not know also, but Annie is interesting girl who made her career with gun.

Wikipedia says: ''Annie Oakley (born Phoebe Ann Mosey; August 13, 1860 – November 3, 1926) was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter. Her "amazing talent"[1] first came to light when the then-15-year-old won a shooting match with traveling-show marksman Frank E. Butler (whom she married). The couple joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West show a few years later. Oakley became a renowned international star, performing before royalty and heads of state.''

I am curious, does USA people know who is Annie Oakley, is she recognized know or she is forgotten.

Annie Oakley (1894)

This film from Edison is certainly of historical interest since it shows the legendary Annie Oakley performing some of her trick shots. This film clocks in at just 21-seconds but there's no question that you can't help but be highly entertained just because you get to see her in action. What's so fascinating about these old movies is that they often captured famous shows and acts on film and it's great being able to see them today. More times than not these shows are long forgotten but being able to see someone like Oakley was great fun.

The picture is unexpected smooth and incredible. With Annie Oakley's perfect shooting performance perfectly make this picture join the rank of great films at the early cinema in Black Maria(mostly consisted with dynamic sport figures)

"Most films featured well-known sports figures, excerpt from noted vaudeville acts, or performances by dancer or acrobats. Annie Oakley displayed her riders. A few Kinetoscope shorts were knockabout comic skits, forerunners of the story film." FILM HISTORY PAGE7 The picture is unexpected smooth and incredible. With Annie Oakley's perfect shooting performance perfectly make this picture join the rank of great films at the early cinema in Black Maria(mostly consisted with dynamic sport figures)

"Most films featured well-known sports figures, excerpt from noted vaudeville acts, or performances by dancer or acrobats. Annie Oakley displayed her riders. A few Kinetoscope shorts were knockabout comic skits, forerunners of the story film." FILM HISTORY PAGE7.

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)

Like many of Dickson and Heise's performance movies, such as the well-known "Annabelle" series, this brief film serves a much different purpose when viewed today than when originally released. In the beginning, the biggest reason Edison's company was so into shooting vaudeville acts and other various sensations of the period was, obviously, to promote the titular performer further as well as cashing in on showing brief sneak peeks of the act through this new medium. Like all of the performance movies, "Annie Oakley" did help this cause, but today serves a completely different purpose than normally. Frequently, watching films of Luis Martinetti, Hadj Cheriff and others help us remember these forgotten historical figures: yet, in this case we can use Edison's record of the act to acquire an idea of what Oakley's skill was like when viewed all those years ago. Clearly her persona is already very well known, and does not need any more recognition; so a film like this one helps illustrate the original fame of the performer rather than serving as a purpose to remember a forgotten historic sensation.

As such, "Annie Oakley" would be a must-see short for any film historians or (more importantly) history buffs. The famous sharpshooter was filmed only once in the Black Maria studio on September 24 1894, a date on which many members of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show (including "Buffalo Bill" Cody himself) were shot in order to promote their acts further into Europe. (Indeed, the show itself would also be touring European continents shortly after these movies were made, which shows how Edison probably wanted an excuse to introduce his invention to other countries). In this thirty-second clip, the only known motion picture record of Oakley, Annie is shown inside the studio against that boring black background we've gotten used to, shooting several rows of glass balls in rapid succession. A man (very probably Francis E. Butler, her husband) then assists her in tossing coins into the air which she shoots down one by one.

We can only speculate why Edison chose to film Oakley in such an unnatural setting. As Snow Leopard has already pointed out, it's clear she isn't always always right on the mark and occasionally takes two shots before getting a hit. A more natural setting might have been a rodeo ring, (like the one used for Bucking Broncho) in which she may have felt more confident and/or comfortable with her marksmanship. Alas, that wasn't the case at all, and it would be a couple more years until shooting on location became a more practiced concept with the Edison studios.

Nonetheless, "Annie Oakley" is a very important record simply because of the famous historical figure it portrays. As is the case with most cinema of this period, watching brief documentary snippets such as these allow us to get an idea of what was popular during the time. Keeping that in mind, every Edison performance short, entertaining or not, is worth seeing simply because of how they depict long forgotten life of all those years ago.