Athlete with Wand

Like I said in title, I am not sure that this guy is any kind of real athletete, nor he is doing anything special. But review Snow Leopard in his review said that '' The point of the movie was not the gymnastic routine, which in itself is neither difficult or interesting. Rather, this footage allowed W.K.L Dickson and the other Edison film-makers to gain experience in the studio'', if this is correct I understand point of this movie, but anyway, I can't give this movie more than rate 1. It is boring and you will not see any interesting. I think that his dog also thinks that he is boring. I also agree with Thomas, put bad athletic performance aside, but this guy deserve his name in movie title, like Annie Oakley.

The athlete shows some great flexibility here! ...Seriously what is this guy doing? It looks ridicules. He is simply flexing his arms and legs in different positions while constantly holding a wand in his both hands. Of course they simply wanted to test as many movements as possible to see what the possibilities were, the do's and don't's and how it all looked on film.

Interestinly there is also a dog lying in the corner, presumably also as part of the experiment to see how secondary objects, persons, other things or in this case a dog would look on the corner of the camera field. The dog also looked as if he/she was trying to figure out what this athlete was exactly doing, but he/she mostly didn't bothered with him and simply choose to relax a bit. I sympathize for him/her.

For an early Edison Manufacturing Company film it's quite long. It's over 30 seconds long. And all shows that Edison and Co. were all making progress at the point.

6/10

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In this film, a man makes some movements, including calisthenics, while working with a 3 foot long pole. His work is not particularly athletic or artistic. Our athlete in the film is not famous. He looks like he's in good shape but we don't even know what his name is. There's also a dog in the foreground behaving like a dog.

The importance of this film lies in being an experimental film to see how movement looked to the camera. This was an early film in Edison's Black Maria studio. The director, WKL Dickson, was preparing for later films which would feature famous performers such as Eugene Sandow, the strongman, or Carmencita, the dancer. The athlete in the film looks like he is warming up. The film is also warming up for what would be come a multi-billion dollar industry. These are very early stages.

This brief footage provides a glimpse into a developmental stage of early cinema, in that it preserves what was understood to be a practice feature made by the Edison Company, in preparation for filming some popular acts in their 'Black Maria' studio. The material itself is largely bland, but it contains a dash of ironic humor, whether it was intentional or not.

The focus here is on a gymnast who does a brief, very simple routine using a wand or short staff, which he holds as he takes up various positions using his arms and legs. The point of the movie was not the gymnastic routine, which in itself is neither difficult or interesting. Rather, this footage allowed W.K.L Dickson and the other Edison film-makers to gain experience in the studio before filming the strongman Sandow (which they did shortly after making this) and other popular acts. Filming a moving performer helped them in judging how much movement the subject could make without leaving the camera field, and also with other such considerations that did not apply to still photography.

Besides its main purpose, it has one humorous detail, in the dog lounging in the corner of the foreground. It's quite possible that the dog was placed there solely as a practical measure, to see how well the camera captured movements at the edges of the camera field. But it's also rather amusing to watch the dog and to see its reaction to the activities of the gymnast and the camera crew. Whether intentional or not, it adds a touch of humor to a movie that already holds some historical interest.

Athlete With Wand (1894)

The title is pretty much what you get in this Edison film. This is a rather interesting film on many levels because of the history behind it. I'm not sure if the athlete has ever been identified but he certainly doesn't get to show off his talents, if he even had any. Pretty much the man just stands in the center of the frame and moves his arms and legs into various positions while holding a wand in both hands. The point of this? I'm really not sure but it's interesting to note that Dickson keeps the actor in the center of the frame apparently thinking this is where people are going to be looking. If you're eyes are centered on the center of the frame then you're going to miss the best moments and that's the dog sitting on the floor, looking at the athlete with a face, like the viewer, wondering what the hell the guy is doing. The dog itself makes this worth viewing not only for history but for pure entertainment.