Name: Horse Shoeing
Genre: Documentary, Short
Released: 1893-01-01
Duration: 1 min
Rating: 3.7
Cast: William K.L. Dickson

One of the First Publicly Exhibited Movies in America

Along with Edison's 1893 film "Blacksmith Scene", which is credited as being the earliest staged narrative film, "Horse Shoeing" was apparently one of the earliest known examples of commercially exhibited motion pictures in America. Edison had originally begun the quest to create moving pictures as early as 1890 (or 1889), but it had taken three full years before he could build the Black Maria studio and begin his film company. While it's true the studio was built the same year as this short, I don't believe "Horse Shoeing" was shot in the Black Maria considering it had to have been filmed before May 9, the new scheduled date for the showing at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences; building a studio in four months seems unlikely. However, it would not be until 1894 until the first Kinetoscope Parlor opened on Broadway, April 14th.

While many not remember this film as much as "Blacksmith Scene", I feel it has just as much right to the title of the earliest narrative film as the other one does (I do not have any filming dates to evidence this, unfortunately). Like the latter, "Horse Shoeing" also included a staged scene, supposedly of (and we can only guess) a horse's hooves having horseshoes nailed to them. Sadly, we won't be able to know much more as it no longer exists apart from three frames. Because of this, it is no wonder "Blacksmith Scene" is remembered better. The three frames, while giving us a slight idea of what it originally looked like, do not exhibit any true movement apart from a slight motion from the man in the middle.

Additionally, the short also includes the admittedly boring black background commonly used in most of the company's earliest shorts. For this particular subject, I find it difficult to understand why the movie was not shot in a natural setting, such as a barn, where they wouldn't have had to drag the horse into the laboratory for filming. I guess the reason this was so was mostly due to bad light exposures not allowing proper filming lighting.

The documentary is a form of non-fiction storytelling that aims to present factual information, insights, and perspectives on real-world subjects, events, issues, or people. Documentaries can cover a wide range of topics, including history, science, culture, social issues, nature, biographies, and more.

Dziga Vertov in Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

The short form refers to creative works characterized by their brevity and concise storytelling. Unlike full-length feature films, short films have a running time of less than 45 minutes, while TV shorts have a running time of less than 22 minutes.

Benedict Cumberbatch in The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023)

Short that shows a blacksmith shop in which two men are shoeing a horse and heating iron at the forge.

The Biggest Movies and TV Coming in September

"The Gentlemen" and "Slow Horses" return this fall, while the "Reacher" spin-off series "Neagley" makes its debut. See our guide of the biggest Fall TV and streaming releases.

2026 Fall TV and Streaming Watch Guide

&quot;The Gentlemen&quot; and &quot;Slow Horses&quot; return this fall, while the &quot;Reacher&quot; spin-off series &quot;Neagley&quot; makes its debut. See our guide of the biggest Fall TV and streaming releases.

Get a closer look at these actors from their many TV and streaming series roles.

Streaming Stars, Then and Now

Edison Laboratories, West Orange, New Jersey, USA

The Dunkirk Spirit: Behind the Making of the Movie

The Dunkirk Spirit: Behind the Making of the Movie (2018)

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in Pirelli Calendar 2010 (The Making of) (2010)

The Odyssey: The Making of an Epic (2026)

Jorma Taccone, Leopold Nilsson, Andreas Cahling, Per-Henrik Arvidius, David Sandberg, Eleni Young, Helene Ahlson, Erik Hörnqvist, and Frank Sanderson in Kung Fury (2015)

Peter Hawkins and Peter Sallis in Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (1993)

William K.L. Dickson in Horse Shoeing (1893)

Horse Shoeing

Photos1

Cast1

User reviews2

More like this

Related interests

Storyline

Did you know

Top picks

Details

Tech specs

Contribute to this page

More to explore

Recently viewed