Electrocuting an Elephant

I first heard of this film short in a horror movie textbook--and it was quite an appropriate place for it. This film is not likely to be exhibited to tourists at the Edison museum anytime soon. It documents a side of Edison that suggests that even the greatest of inventors can have sociopathic personality traits on par with a vivisector or serial killer. Another user seemed to be attempting to put the atrocity in context--but if the information was correct, that the elephant was abused by trainers-it only serves to compound the injustice here. This ranks with "Night and Fog" and the Ian Holm narrated "Animals at War" as one of the most shameful documents of human depravity recorded on film.

Dont feel bad if you cant find it at Blockbuster's.

in response to the response posted earlier, i think a film like this is good evidence towards the theory that humans can be kinda dumb. yeah, the elephant killed some people, but that seems more a reaction to its situation of being captured and paraded around for slack-jawed coney-islanders. in a way, this film was the first edition of "when animals attack!" as it similarly shows the results of animals rebelling against their human captors. of course, this edison film just shows the electrocution, but the meaning is the same.

the film can be seen in its entirety in Mr. Death, as the previous guy posted, and also in a PBS documentary about the rise and fall of Coney Island.

The elephant was no killer of men. She killed a**hole men that deserved it. I can't even look an elephant in the face knowing what we have done to them over the years. And the ASPCA what a joke! I wouldn't give them money for nothing. They could have saved Topsy the elephant but no they didn't want her. I don't give to the ASPCA for that reason, though there are other reasons. The evil that men do.

This film is a kind of mixture between a snuff film and an animal experimentation film. I suppose the film is somewhat interesting due largely to its age and its gruesome subject matter, but that's really about it. Edison made some other morbid films, with people being sent to the electric chair, hanged, shot, etc. I think these were reenactments, but the subject matter is the same. For this reason I don't think Edison was trying to tout his DC current as much as he was trying to cash in on audience blood-lust. As an early film buff, I just had to see it. But one time was enough for me. NOTE: For the morbidly curious, this film is available on Kino's wonderful "The Movies Begin" DVD box set. There is an easter egg on one of the disks that allows you to access this film, along with a few "execution" films and films considered adult-themed at the time.

The story behind how this film came to be made has been covered by other reviewers so I won't bother going over it again. Suffice to say, any normal human being will be repulsed by what they see on this short and badly deteriorated film. The elephant whose execution we witness was apparently a killer of men, but that doesn't really justify her electrocution. She's docile enough as she's led to her death, suggesting she's no rogue. Despite the graininess of the picture, the viewer can easily identify the moment the poor animal is zapped by the way her huge body stiffens. A second later, smoke rises from around her feet and a few seconds after that she topples to the ground. That's entertainment, folks.