William McKinley at Canton, Ohio

Without knowing as to who the characters are that appear in this film, the very important historical context it contains is lost. This movie is the first film of a US president ever made, starring none other than William McKinley himself, and working as a sort of promo for the president-to-be. The fact that McKinley was assassinated only five years after this film was shot continues to make the movie interesting to watch, as it would also be the first short of an assassinated president.

As other reviewers have already pointed out, the little action occurring in this thirty-second film was apparently an attempt to make a convincing reenactment of McKinley receiving the news of his nomination, to fool the audiences. The short simply features he and his secretary George Cortelyou walking across the lawn, opening the letter, and reading the news. While the print is rather blurry, it is obvious McKinley is looking at the camera, distracted by its presence and hence unable to produce a convincing performance. This film continued to be shown after the election of McKinley due to its popularity, and because of how extraordinary the medium still was to people at the time, it was a bigger deal for people seeing this in the cinemas than it is to see movies of political figures now.

Either way, and despite lack of good picture quality, this film is definitely above your typical actuality due to the character it portrays. Biograph certainly outdid itself this time: they really knew what would get an audiences' attention.

McKinley at Home (1896)

Biograph short shows President McKinley walking across his lawn and towards the camera.

Grandpa's Reading Glasses (1902)

*** (out of 4)

Biograph short has two little girl's looking through their grandfather's glasses and seeing everything magnified. Outside the early POV shots, this here isn't anything overly special.

Both films are available through Grapevine in their Biograph Without Griffith disc.

This would be interesting to watch for the subject matter alone, even if for no other reason. Today we are used to seeing all kinds of footage of significant world leaders in various situations, but this is one of the very earliest motion pictures of an important world leader. It's no surprise to hear what a sensation this little feature was in its own time.

The footage itself might seem somewhat plain, if compared with what we are used to seeing now. But it allows the opportunity to see a long-past President as more than just a name or a still photograph. It can be hard to make long-ago historical figures seem human, especially those who are only known for a couple of actions or distinctions. Even a simple film like this can work well in making McKinley more of a flesh-and-blood person.

The outdoor scene is nice, also, since it makes the film seem more natural. Just seeing the way that McKinley is dressed, and the small mannerisms that you can glimpse here, makes it interesting.

This short "documentary" from 1897 can be found in the Landmarks of Early Film DVD. Basically what it shows is President McKinley walking out of the White House, signing a piece of paper handed to him by a young man next to me, and then just strolling toward the camera for a few seconds before the film is over. Although this short does not have the charm and insight of the work of the Lumiere brothers, it is still fascinating to watch. You can see that McKinley is trying not to be different because there's a camera around, as is the young man next to him, but they are both greatly affected by its presence. You can also the wears and worries in McKinley, in his posture and movement, because he is far removed and you can hardly see his face. Even though this short decided to film someone of a stature far removed (instead of people exiting a factory or a train pulling into a station), it is still wonderful to watch, but for the few seconds you have to watch it.

President McKinley lived a long time ago. It took me a while to realize just how long ago this man was president. But this captures him. And now, he's timeless.

My grade: 7/10

This is an approximately 35-second long Lumière Brothers actuality that shows the 25th President of the United States, William McKinley, at home in Ohio. As you might expect in a Lumière Brothers short, McKinley walks at an oblique angle from the front of his house to a planter in the front yard, then out of frame. An unidentified man walks with McKinley on his right hand side. At about mid-frame, just to the side of the planter, they stop, the man hands McKinley a paper, he puts on a top hat, he writes something on the paper, hands the paper back to the man, removes his hat, and they walk out of the frame.

Depending on how you look at it, McKinley was either the first or second President to appear on film. The ambiguity rests on a couple technicalities. President McKinley at Home was actually filmed in 1896, when McKinley was campaigning for his first term--the actuality was probably taken during one of McKinley's famed "Front Porch" publicity events. Afterwards, another actuality was shot at McKinley's first inauguration in March 4, 1897, but Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th U.S. President (he served two non-consecutive terms) was filmed first--he attended McKinley's inauguration. So Cleveland was captured on film as President moments before McKinley was captured on film as President.

This short is not the most fascinating Lumière Brothers work from an artistic standpoint, but of course it is of historical value. It's interesting to note how conscious of the camera McKinley and his companion are--they hardly take their eyes off of it while they're walking. Like many other Lumière "documentaries", it's intriguing just how clearly this scene was staged. McKinley and his companion stop just to the side of the planter as if they're hitting a mark. Their gait is very deliberate, as if timed to last the length of the film before they exit the frame. McKinley carefully places his hat on his head and takes it back off, as if to offer different "looks" for photographs.

Although McKinley may not have been the first President captured on film, he's certainly the first President for whom film captured many important moments, including scenes from the Pan-American Exhibition in Buffalo, New York, where McKinley was assassinated in 1901 at the beginning of his second term (although film of the assassination itself does not exist). Most of the McKinley films were produced by the Edison Manufacturing Company.