Uncle Josh's Nightmare | 1900 | Fantasy, Comedy.

Title: Uncle Josh's Nightmare | 1900 | Fantasy, Comedy. Director: Edwin S. Porter. Studio: Edison Manufacturing Company. Starring: Charles Manley. Release Date: March 1900. Runtime: 2.5 Format: Silent; black-and-white; 35mm; 150 ft. Country: United States. Language: Silent. Genres: Fantasy, Comedy; trick film. --- Chapters: 00:00:00 Bedtime routine 00:00:25 First apparition 00:01:05 Struggle and containment 00:01:45 Vanishing furniture 00:02:15 Awakening --- Summary: In a bedroom set after lights-out, Uncle Josh dozes off and is tormented by a mischievous apparition. Startled awake, he grapples with the figure, stuffs it into a trunk, and tries to restore order, only for the specter to reappear and objects around the room to disappear and return. Using stop-substitution and other in-camera tricks common to early cinema, the short stages a nightmare of shifting space and elusive adversaries, balancing comic reactions with fantasy effects typical of the period. --- Background: Produced by the Edison Manufacturing Company and attributed to Edwin S. Porter, the film is among the earliest entries built around the recurring character “Uncle Josh,” portrayed on screen by Charles Manley. Released in March 1900 and photographed in New York, it precedes later installments such as Uncle Josh in a Spooky Hotel and Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show . Surviving copies derive from paper print materials; the extant digital copy runs approximately two and a half minutes. --- Trivia: AFI lists the physical length at 150 feet, which equates to roughly two and a half minutes at silent-era speeds. The film helped establish Uncle Josh as a continuing screen character, followed by Uncle Josh in a Spooky Hotel and Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show . A Library of Congress-sourced digital file on Wikimedia Commons times the short at 2 minutes 30 seconds. The AFI Catalog identifies New York City as the production location. Thomas A. Edison registered copyright on March 21, 1900, under entry D6366. --- Public Domain / Rights: Original Release: March 1900. Original Studio / Distributor: Edison Manufacturing Company. Copyright Status: Public Domain . Renewal: Unknown --- Hashtags: UncleJoshsNightmare EdwinSPorter EdisonStudios EdisonManufacturingCompany SilentFilm EarlyCinema PublicDomain 1900sFilm TrickFilm This video was sourced from Internet Archive. Originally uploaded by cringeape20@gmail.com. https://archive.org/details/uncle-joshs-nightmare-1900-directed-by-edwin-s.-porter