American Falls from Above, American Style (1896)
*** (out of 4)
Edison short was one of many that they did centered around Niagra Falls, which was a very popular subject back in the early days of cinema. It's hard to imagine what it would have been like, walking into a movie for the first time, and seeing something like the falls and on that level this short remains fairly interesting after all these years. We see the falls from the American side and also get to witness three people standing on an observation deck and their frantic hand gestures makes you think they're having a wonderful time. The camera angle looking at the falls is a very good one and it is interesting to compare this to the footage shot by the Lumiere brothers a few years later.