Pillow fights are so much fun. And even if this short film runs for only slightly longer than thirty seconds, the action depicted herein got me right in the mood. I'd have loved to join in and battle these five girls with their gorgeous long black hair in their pajamas as hard as I could. Sometimes we just have to let the inner child out and this looks like the perfect occasion. They're having obviously so much fun. Unfortunately, the fun is over when the female overseer enters the room as the funny screaming and squealing with glee from the girls attracted her attention. The pillow fight is over, but all girls except one are still joking and clowning around in a harmless fashion as the older woman attempts to restore order and one poor girls really gets it from her. Fun watch for sure.
6 Reviews
Lively & Engaging
Snow Leopard1 March 2005
This early Edison feature is lively, engaging, and amusing. It has a fresh, innocent feel to it that almost makes it look as if it were spontaneous, but there are other aspects of it that show at least some of it to have been carefully planned.
The story starts with a group of "Seminary Girls" having a lively pillow fight. The early footage is engaging enough, and then when a matron enters, it is even funnier to see the young women employing various strategies to evade her grasp. The action moves so fast that you can't catch everything at once, so it's worth seeing a few times so that you can watch each of the characters.
The title must have been chosen with a touch of dry humor, since the title alone would not lead you to expect the disarming kind of fun that the movie actually contains.
The story starts with a group of "Seminary Girls" having a lively pillow fight. The early footage is engaging enough, and then when a matron enters, it is even funnier to see the young women employing various strategies to evade her grasp. The action moves so fast that you can't catch everything at once, so it's worth seeing a few times so that you can watch each of the characters.
The title must have been chosen with a touch of dry humor, since the title alone would not lead you to expect the disarming kind of fun that the movie actually contains.
I've almost seen a bare ankle!
Kitahito24 March 2021
O tempora, o mores! Such innocent perversion, I can't help but smile! Young girls having a heated pillow fight, until reality walks in to ruin the fun, as reality tends to do, especially when it takes the form of a burly middle-aged woman. Where is the Devil of Méliès when we need him?!
Humor and voyeurism
BrandtSponseller23 March 2005
In this 30-second long Edison Company short, six "seminary girls" are arranged in depth layers in a dorm room with beds and an end table. They engage in a pillow fight. About two-thirds of the way through, the ruckus causes their matron to enter and break up the fun.
While the extent to which the action in this short is choreographed is questionable, it nevertheless achieves aesthetic worth and rewards repeated viewings via its complexity, abstractness and humor. Like most Edison shorts of the era, Seminary Girls was shot entirely inside Edison's "Black Maria" studio, which can still be seen at the Edison National Historic Site in West Orange, New Jersey.
The overall effect of the motion is oddly similar to Edison's Annabelle Serpentine Dance (1894), but at the same time, it has the layered depth-of-frame and contrapuntal action of The Barber Shop (1894). It also provides a somewhat taboo, voyeuristic peek at a group of women frolicking in their nightgowns, that voyeurism being one of the cultural functions of the Kinetoscope that contributed to its popularity. Of course Seminary Girls was more titillating than other shorts engaging in that function, like The Cock Fight (1894), but it is no less (for males, at least) a surrogate peek at a forbidden world.
This is one of the earlier Edison shorts with humor that translates well to modern sensibilities. It's quite funny to see the girls attack the matron with a pillow and a blanket, and to watch the matron try to pull out one of the girls from beneath a bed, where she's trying to hide.
While the extent to which the action in this short is choreographed is questionable, it nevertheless achieves aesthetic worth and rewards repeated viewings via its complexity, abstractness and humor. Like most Edison shorts of the era, Seminary Girls was shot entirely inside Edison's "Black Maria" studio, which can still be seen at the Edison National Historic Site in West Orange, New Jersey.
The overall effect of the motion is oddly similar to Edison's Annabelle Serpentine Dance (1894), but at the same time, it has the layered depth-of-frame and contrapuntal action of The Barber Shop (1894). It also provides a somewhat taboo, voyeuristic peek at a group of women frolicking in their nightgowns, that voyeurism being one of the cultural functions of the Kinetoscope that contributed to its popularity. Of course Seminary Girls was more titillating than other shorts engaging in that function, like The Cock Fight (1894), but it is no less (for males, at least) a surrogate peek at a forbidden world.
This is one of the earlier Edison shorts with humor that translates well to modern sensibilities. It's quite funny to see the girls attack the matron with a pillow and a blanket, and to watch the matron try to pull out one of the girls from beneath a bed, where she's trying to hide.
Girls and Pillows
Michael_Elliott12 July 2015
Seminary Girls (1897)
If anything, 1897's SEMINARY GIRLS show that anything was able to be filmed and sold to people. This 33 second movie has five girls having a pillow fight. Yes, this is the only thing that happens here but apparently Edison made quite a bit of money selling this to people in a, let's say, more sexual way. Obviously, watching this today there's nothing remotely sexual going on but in 1897 there were people who would watch this for more than just the pillow fight. Obviously with such a short running time it's impossible to rate this film in any way but for film buffs it's an interesting film that shows what was being sold to people.
If anything, 1897's SEMINARY GIRLS show that anything was able to be filmed and sold to people. This 33 second movie has five girls having a pillow fight. Yes, this is the only thing that happens here but apparently Edison made quite a bit of money selling this to people in a, let's say, more sexual way. Obviously, watching this today there's nothing remotely sexual going on but in 1897 there were people who would watch this for more than just the pillow fight. Obviously with such a short running time it's impossible to rate this film in any way but for film buffs it's an interesting film that shows what was being sold to people.
Pretty Voyeuristic for 1897 but Can't Hold a Finger to "After the Ball"
Tornado_Sam7 November 2017
This is one of Edison Company's later shorts, made after the times of the Kinetoscope, William Dickson, and the various experiments that Edison made during the first years of his film company. He moved on to other things, such as this film, "Seminary Girls", which, as Brandt has pointed out, served as a piece of voyeurism which would excite male audiences. And indeed it must have been pretty darn titillating for 1897, as the young women portrayed here are practically Tom Boys. How offensive that is! Well, at least for its period. Today it's rather harmless but 100 years have passed, thus our values have changed.
However, is it complete? On the film notes on Kino's "Movies Begin" a description from the Edison catalog says that the film began with the Seminary Girls smoking to start their romp. If it is true that this is not quite complete, and the smoking scene was indeed part of the film then oh boy! Would that have shocked audiences. And, another thing: was this short made before the Georges Melies film "After the Ball" from the same year? I really wonder if audiences would have found this one to be so erotic if they'd seen "After the Ball" before seeing this. (I won't explain why I think this but if you see the film I'm referring to you'll get what I'm talking about).
However, is it complete? On the film notes on Kino's "Movies Begin" a description from the Edison catalog says that the film began with the Seminary Girls smoking to start their romp. If it is true that this is not quite complete, and the smoking scene was indeed part of the film then oh boy! Would that have shocked audiences. And, another thing: was this short made before the Georges Melies film "After the Ball" from the same year? I really wonder if audiences would have found this one to be so erotic if they'd seen "After the Ball" before seeing this. (I won't explain why I think this but if you see the film I'm referring to you'll get what I'm talking about).
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