Fencing

Two fencers pose with cross blades in this reconstruction (from stills) of one of the test films made by W.K.L. Dickson for the Edison labs.

To the public, there are landmarks in the history of movies that seem to encapsulate a long, drawn-out process, beginning in the late 18th century when someone made some photograms -- unfixed images -- that still exist. Edison's labs worked on motion pictures for half a decade before producing BLACKSMITH SCENE in 1893, and the first show was a year and a half later. Which most people take it as the moment the movies were invented. They weren't.

What can you say about Fencing from 1892? quite little considering its runtime but here I'll comment everything I think is worth from this second long picture. This was one of several W.K.L Dickson experimental films meant only to test the kinetoscope and the different motion capture techniques, it was never supposed to be seen by an audience instead it was a way to learn how to do the movies that, starting on 1893, were shown to people. However years after it was made its images were recovered and today it can be seen on the Internet.

Fencing was one of four sports films made that year, of those it is the only one I've been able to locate, but all of them had something in common, they were the first movies filmed on a 35mm. format that would later become the standard in the industry. On the other hand I have to highlight that it is the shortest film I've ever seen, in order to really appreciate it you have to run it several times, but that's not a problem, you'll see it 15 times in 15 seconds and you will still have a quarter of a minute to do with it whatever you please, so there's really no reason to miss this. the few remaining photogram shows us two fencer face to face, the one at the left has his weapon up and he's waiting, his rival starts on a rest position but then moves his sword up to meet his foe, at the same time he moves up his free arm to take a combat position. When the swords touch the film ends.

During movies history there has been many exciting sword fight scenes, specially in adventure movies, that makes it something very cinematographic and, while fencing as a sport has not been really showcased in movies, I think it is quite meaningful that one of the first sport films ever (boxing won by one year) has been starred by two sword men. Besides this interesting historic facts the film has not much to offer, so you must see it as a curiosity. The film falls short even by its time standards, by that year longer scenes were already captured so this falls short comparing it even with its contemporaries; but of course it was never meant to be seen.

For the first three years in the motion picture industry, Thomas A. Edison devoted himself entirely on altering and testing his Kinetoscope invention, the film camera used to shoot the very first movies made in America. Movies such as "Men Boxing", "Dickson Greeting" and "Newark Athlete" have all been remembered as such, being widely available on the Internet and on a DVD set of Edison shorts. From the blurry Monkeyshines trilogy to the crisp quality of the 1891 movies, Edison finally found the solution to capture movement on celluloid.

However, what is oddly enough not remembered as well in cinematic history are Edison's 1892 shorts, in which "Fencing" is included. Many of these later experiments have either been lost, little seen, or sadly forgotten. Indeed, from the two 1892 Edison movies available online, it appears they have either not aged well or were poorly made in first place. "Fencing" is an example of this. From the very stationary, cleaned-up footage from one year before, the footage that makes up this literally second-long piece is blurry, shakey and actually a step down from those previous shorts. Either Edison was trying to improve his invention ever better than before and ended up making it worse, or they built a second camera with cheaper parts which proved to be not as well constructed.

Yet, this is still a little-remembered historical landmark for one reason: it is the first remake I've seen in the history of movies. Considering the fact almost no one was really inventing like Edison was at the time, one would think the first remake came years later, but if you were to think that you'd be mistaken. Frenchman Etienne-Jules Marey, who was experimenting with his chronophotographic gun invention around the same time, had already previously did a shot of fencers in motion the year before (in "Two Fencers" of 1891). That film is a little longer than this one, survives in a more crisp and viewable condition, and even shows more skill from the fencers. There is no possible way Edison could really have seen that film beforehand, since he had occupied his time the year before experimenting with the Kinetoscope, yet the subject matter remains exactly the same. So it must have been by some strange coincidence that he chose the exact same subject to shoot.

Fencing (1892)

Even though this was made four years after the first official motion pictures, this thing actually lasts even less in regards to screen time! Clocking in at just two seconds, this here shows two men fencing or at least getting ready two. In the two seconds we see them raise their swords up and then the movie is over. I guess you could call this one of the first cliffhangers as well. obviously one shouldn't expect any sort of plot in these early films. They remain entertaining today because of the fact that they were made so early in the format and you can't help but wonder what people thought of these mere seconds when it was originally released.