vukelic-stjepan I am chronologically watching movies from oldest to newest and I think that this is first movie which shows people drinking alcohol. I guess that this is beer, and I am glad that my favorite drink is first alcohol showed in movie. But I am not sure that drinking on job where you can hurt yourself in any moment.I see in comments that this is earliest movie selected in USA national registry, but it is not correct, Newark athlete which is older is also included in this registry. I see that many comments said that this movie has better quality than movies which are recorded 20,30 years later, that is shame for guys which recorded this movies.

kobe1413 William Heise and W.K.L. Dickson work together on this short of the Edison Manufacturing Company. It was the a scene of three men working as blacksmith. They all strike the iron between them, then they take a break as one man hands another a drink. This is celebrated as the first narrative scene ever committed to film.This was an important step forward for the Edison team as they had previously only filmed performers doing a routine, such as the "Newark Athlete", or filming themselves, such as the "Dickson Greeting". Here they purposely stage a scene in their studio so that they can make their audiences believe they are watching actual blacksmiths at work.I give a 2 out of 10, as it only really needed to be scene as a historical document.

Clark Richards I found this film on a DVD collection of short films. I believe the title of the DVD was the 'Treasury Collection', of which there are at least 4 volumes. It's hard to rate this film along the same standards one would rate, 'Casablanca' or 'Citizen Kane', because it isn't so much a movie with a plot, it's just a steady shot of some Blacksmith's working. The film couldn't have been longer than a minute. The one thing that I found to be interesting was that of being able to look back through time. It's kind of funny that in this day and age of 'Reality' teevee, the first movie sold to the public for viewing was a movie that was nothing more than a slice of everyday humdrum reality.10/10. For being able to cross over into the 1800's.Clark Richards

dfarmbrough The two men hammering away at nondescript pieces of metal is a remarkable way of demonstrating the then new art of cinematography. The prints we see today have suffered from indifferent duplication, years of neglect, and lackadaisical 'restoration' and must be viewed in this context. There is an unwillingness to adjust the speed of these films in video transfers which beggars belief, so the speed will also appear unreasonably slow. Nevertheless this is a good way of demonstrating how tonal contrast, the fluidity of movement of the human body, and the interaction of two men with one another can be captured by a mechanical device. If anyone can tell me what the man on the left is making, I should be most grateful