The Worst Film Ever

Expected more

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

In my previous reviews on Dickson and Heise's shorts I have often emphasized that many of them featured a talented athlete or dancer performing one of their popular routines. Such is the case with "Annie Oakley" a film featuring (Who else?) Annie Oakley herself. Here, her routine is shooting with accuracy. We see Annie (the true Annie herself) shooting glass balls and shooting holes through coins. And she doesn't miss, either! Truly an amazing show of skill, but much more interesting for the fact it shows a real true historical figure long gone. It's interesting to think how the people at the time actually reacted to this. I'm sure that many actually seen Oakley before in person, but for those who hadn't, well, go on an' visit Edison's Kinetoscope parlor and watch her on film! Also, I suppose this could take its place among the few Edison movies to feature a performer that is still remembered nowadays; most of them aren't.If you're a film buff, watch it for historical significance; if you're a history buff, watch it for seeing the real Oakley in action.

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 shows off her shooting prowess for the camera of William Heise and W.k.L. Dickson. She first shoots at targets on a board, and then fires at targets being tossed up into the air by an assistant. This was filmed at Edison's Black Maria studio in New Jersey.This film was more energetic than most shorts from 1894. Oakley's shooting seems to be live and real, especially when shooting at the board. It is hard to tell if she is hitting the tossed targets, but we can still tell the great skill she has. She was probably the biggest star the filmed by the Edison duo in 1894.I give it two out of ten stars.

Like many of the earliest Edison Kinetoscope movies, this one showed a popular entertainment figure performing one of her specialties. It's an interesting attempt, and it's nice to have something preserved on film of Annie Oakley, one of the legends of her day. But the footage that resulted is clearly limited by the constraints of the studio.Like most of the earliest Edison movies, this was filmed inside their 'Black Maria' studio. That setting worked very well in producing movies of various dancers, vaudeville acts, and the like. But with Annie Oakley, it forces her to squeeze her routine into an area much smaller than normal, and while she does a pretty good job anyway, it's clear that under the conditions to which she was more accustomed, she would have done much better.It was not long at all before the Edison film-makers began to film subjects outdoors when it better suited the material. Even then, though, the scale and speed of Oakley's regular act would probably have created an insurmountable challenge to film with the equipment available in the 1890s. All the same, it's nice to be able to see moving footage of her, so as to be able to flesh out this legendary figure just a little bit better.