Buffalo Dance

Partners W.K.L. Dickson and William Heise filmed this seventeen-second short for Edison Laboratories. They filmed three Native-American dancers recreating what the title call "the Buffalo Dance".

Not much to recommend here as a film, other than its dubious value as a cultural artifact. These Native-Americans are obviously performers, so it is hard to determine the authenticity of their wardrobe and movements. This film may be more of how the white filmmakers Heise and Dickson viewed Native-Americans. I do like how one of the dancers never takes his eyes off of the camera, staring it down as he dances.

I rate it a 2 out of 10.

Well, here's another early film from The Edison Company that depicts something that was popular during that time. In this case, it's the "Buffalo Dance" as we see three American Indians dancing in the Black Maria studio seemingly conscious of being on camera the whole time while two other of their tribe are playing instruments-drums-as accompaniment. They're all from "Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show", the one chronicled in Irving Berlin's Broadway show and movie Annie Get Your Gun where Annie Oakley and Frank Butler fight and fall in love. Since this is only a few seconds, my rating is mainly based on how fascinating a document this was and how audiences might have reacted when they watched this on their kinetoscopes-those peepshow machines that you twirl on one side that are probably still available for viewing at Walt Disney World for a penny. I just found this on Internet Archive. Probably the earliest thing I've reviewed here on IMDb.

This Edison short got filmed on the same day as "Sioux Ghost Dance", though I have the feeling that that short was the more interesting one. Not just because it was the first (or was it? Guess we can only assume so) but also because of the way how the scene got set up.

Thing I didn't liked too much about this short was that it cut right in into the action and the natives are right in the middle of their dance already when the camera gets switched on. The Indians in it also seem to be very aware of the camera, as they are constantly looking up, right into it. The whole movie just because of that doesn't feel very natural or interesting.

They again used some real native, that were part of the Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. Unlike "Sioux Ghost Dance", the names of the performers are actually known by their native names Last Horse, Parts His Hair and Hair Coat. Guess all the cool names already were taken when they were born.

Not that interesting and also not as renewing or well set up, especially when you compare it to "Sioux Ghost Dance".

5/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

In the year of 1972, former soldier and frontiersman "Buffalo" Bill Cody decided to enter show business by creating a traveling company dedicated to perform little plays based on his very own adventures while living in the wild west. 11 years later, in 1883, what started as a little company would become the "Buffalo Bill's Wild West" show, an enormous spectacle conceived as a Western-themed circus where Buffalo Bill and company would perform many stunts or shows and bring the experience of the Wild West to the East. Soon Buffalo Bill's show became the most popular attraction of the 19th Century and so, in 1894, members of his show were invited to Thomas Alva Edison's "Black Maria" in order to participate in the making of Kinetoscope films about the show. The legendary "Buffalo Bill's Wild West" show was now part of cinema history.

"Buffalo Dance" is one of several movies done by members of Buffalo Bill's show in those days. What makes this one stand out is that its one of the two (along "Sioux Ghost Dance") done about the Native Americans of the show, as the shooting of the two films (on September 24, 1894) represents the first time Native Americans appeared on film. As the title implies, this movie shows three Sioux Indians performing the "Buffalo Dance", while two others appear in the background playing the music with their drums. The Buffalo dance seems to be more ancient than the ritual Ghost Dance, and this movie captures it in a very good and detailed way, making it an invaluable source about Native Americans in that period (it also helps that the footage has survived in pretty good condition).

As it has been pointed out many times by critics and historians, it's pretty interesting how the dancers instinctively stare at the camera, truly surprised by it and probably wondering about the point of performing the dance in front of a device like that (film camera's wouldn't become common until 1895). Unlike "Sioux Ghost Dance", this movie captures the dance in a better way than the other movie, in part because the number of dancers is considerably minor, but also because director William K.L. Dickson (inventor of the Kinetoscope) makes a better use of his camera to capture the event. According to the noted on Edison's catalog, the dancers were known as Hair Coat, Parts His Hair and Last Horse; those were the names of the very first Sioux in the history of cinema. 6/10

Buffalo Dance (1894)

*** (out of 4)

Another interesting piece of history, this Edison short runs just fifteen-seconds but it's very entertaining. We see three Indians doing a "buffalo dance", which was a ritual they'd do as part of the "Buffalo Bill Wild West Show". I'm sure fans back in the day got a great kick (and laughter) out of seeing this but the movie remains interesting today just as a part of history. It's great seeing an actual show of what people back in the day were watching and with that in mind, this is the main reason why I love watching these older films. Those expecting some ground breaking action will be disappointed but silent film buffs will be entertained.