Directed by: William K. L. Dickson
Also known as Blacksmithing Scene, it is one of the earliest films shot in Edison’s Black Maria studio in New Jersey. It was publicly shown along with Horse Shoeing (1893) at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences (now Brooklyn Museum) on 9 May 1893.
The film features three blacksmiths pausing their hard work to pass a bottle around and then resume hammering away. It is also a lie– the men are not blacksmiths in a workshop but actors in a studio. As such, it is one of the earliest known examples of actors performing a role in a motion picture.
Bibliography
Dirks, T. (n.d.). ‘Greatest Film Milestones Pre-1900s’, filmsite. Available at: http://www.filmsite.org/milestonespre1900s_2.html [Accessed: 28 November 2021].
Fortmueller, K. (2017). ‘Blacksmithing Scene (1893)’, Critical Commons, 22 February. Available at: http://www.criticalcommons.org/Members/kfortmueller/clips/blacksmithing-scene-1893/view [Accessed: 28 November 2021].
IMDb contributors (n.d.). ‘Blacksmith Scene (1893)’, IMDb. Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0000005/ [Accessed: 28 November 2021].
National Film Preservation Foundtation (2017). ‘Blacksmithing Scene (1893)’. Available at: https://www.filmpreservation.org/dvds-and-books/clips/blacksmithing-scene-1893 [21 November 2021].
Reel Lessons 