At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Move On (1903) *** (out of 4) Nice film from Edison was shot in New York's Lower East Side as we see several street merchants selling fruits and various other items. Everything is pretty uneventful until a cop shows up demanding one vendor to leave. At just under two-minutes there's certainly nothing here that's going to entertain modern viewers but I think film and history buffs should at least be entertained by what's here. As is the case with most of these old movies, they're mainly going to appeal to those who enjoy seeing how things looked back in 1903. I found the scenery to be quite beautiful in its own way and it's certainly fascinating seeing how these street market was worked. We get to see several people as they go about their day and there's also a good look at some old automobiles as well as several type of street carts. I'm not sure if the cop sequence was staged or not but if not then things certainly have changed in the past one-hundred years.

This Thomas Edison flick shows a busy market scene, apparently in or near the Bowery and Second Avenue in New York. Fruit peddlars line the street in such density that they interfere with traffic, meaning that the police have to move in and send them on their way. The Edison catalogue identifies the peddlars as Jewish and Italian. It's an interesting if unremarkable scene. I saw two versions, the original and one, bizarrely, one in slow motion with a recording of Yes, We Have No Bananas. In terms of detail that can be seen, the slo-mo version was the more interesting of the two. Considering it's less than two minutes long it's worth a look. (Can you say 'padding'?)