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© 2026 The Couch Critic
Browse 172 movies from Edison Manufacturing Company
After the train station clerk is assaulted and left bound and gagged, then the departing train and its passengers robbed, a posse goes in hot pursuit of the fleeing bandits.
Dec 1903
Three men hammer on an anvil and pass a bottle of beer around. Notable for being the first film in which a scene is being acted out.
May 1893
They get ready to kiss, begin to kiss, and kiss in a way that brings down the house every time.
Apr 1896
This early docudrama shows Auburn Prison and recreates the electrocution of Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of President McKinley of the United States.
Nov 1901
Chollie and George compete for a young woman's affection, using trickery and sabotage.
Sep 1907
A short film depicting the execution of Mary, Queen of the Scots. Mary is brought to the execution block and made to kneel down with her neck over it. The executioner lifts his axe ready to bring it down. After that frame Mary has been replaced by a dummy. The axe comes down and severs the head of the dummy from the body. The executioner picks up the head and shows it around for everyone else to see. One of the first camera tricks to be used in a movie.
Aug 1895
A cartoonist defies reality when he draws objects that become three-dimensional after he lifts them off his sketch pad.
Nov 1900
An excerpt of the Shakespeare play presented in the Kinetophone sound system, in which the sound was provided by synchronized Edison cylinders.
Feb 1913
Porter's sequential continuity editing links several shots to form a narrative of firemen responding to a house fire. They leave the station with their horse drawn pumper, arrive on the scene, and effect the safe rescue of a woman from the burning house. But wait, she tells them of her child yet asleep in the burning bedroom...
Jan 1903
A showcase of trapeze artist Alciede Capitaine, billed as “The Perfect Woman,” whose daring feats on the flying bar combined grace with breathtaking athleticism. Produced by Edison in 1898, this title should not be confused with Dickson’s earlier 1894 short Mlle. Capitaine, which also featured the performer.
Jan 1898
An Edison Kinetophone short featuring leading suffragists Harriet May Mills, Mrs. James Lees Laidlaw, Mrs. Raymond Brown, Mrs. John Rogers, Jr., and Elizabeth Freeman delivering speeches in support of women’s right to vote. Produced as part of Edison’s early sound-film experiments, it captured real voices from the suffrage movement and was exhibited in vaudeville houses, where it sometimes met with controversy. (Note: This film is distinct from the 1912 Reliance production of the same name directed by Hal Reid, which was a silent dramatic narrative.)
Jan 1913
A reenacted short from 1899 produced by Thomas Edison’s company during the Philippine-American War. The film dramatizes an engagement in which Filipino forces are routed (defeated) by U.S. troops. It was part of a wave of patriotic war “actualities” designed to appeal to American audiences, stirring imperialistic sentiments.
Jun 1899
The sinister mesmerist Svengali hypnotizes a group of people and compels them to perform various humorous acts in a Trilby segment from David Henderson's Aladdin, Jr. burlesque. Lost.
Jan 1895
William K.L. Dickson plays the violin while two men dance. This is the oldest surviving sound film where sound is recorded on the phonograph.
Aug 1894
A “madman” escapes prison and the torments of his warders.
Oct 1904
A live-action film adaptation of the comic strip Dream of the Rarebit Fiend by American cartoonist Winsor McCay. This silent short film follows the established theme: the “Rarebit Fiend” gorges himself on rarebit and thus suffers spectacular hallucinatory dreams.
Feb 1906
Scene from a Trilby-themed stage play. Lost.
Kimura, a drunk and a gambler, has no affection for his daughter Kiku-San, who falls in love with Dick Tower, an American college friend of her brother Okuma.
Apr 1918
Klingsor seeks admission to the Holy Grail. Evil summons Kundry. Herzeloid appears with the child Parsifal. Crowning of Amfortas. Wounding of Amfortas. Carrying Amfortas to his bath. Kundry brings relief to Amfortas. Parsifal reproached for killing the Swan. Kundry succumbs to Evil. Knights entering the Holy Grail. Parsifal unmoved. Klingsor summons Kundry. Parsifal enters the Magic Garden. Kundry kisses Parsifal. Parsifal calls upon the Saviour. Parsifal repulses Kundry. Klingsor hurls the Sacred Spear. Destruction of the Magic Garden. Guernemanz restores Kundry. Parsifal appears with Sacred Spear. Kundry washes Parsifal's feet. Amfortas tears open his wound. Parsifal heals Amfortas. Parsifal becomes King of the Holy Grail.
Nov 1904
The public throughout the world is acquainted with the sensational capture of the Biddle Brothers and Mrs. Soffel, who, through the aid of Mrs. Soffel, escaped from the Pittsburg jail on January 30th, 1902.
Feb 1902