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Powerful

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Beginning his new film Company, Edison, in searching for material audiences would find entertaining, decided to film a young Newark Athlete displaying his talent of swinging Indian clubs. This film was then probably one of the first movies by the Edison company that featured a display of skill, something that many of Edison's early films would show. In fact, considering it's 1891, this was probably the first one that falls in that genre. I'm not sure who the athlete was but while his skill isn't all that impressive, it is still extremely interesting in terms of historical interest which makes this a must-see. Yes, all we see is the Athlete of the title swinging some clubs but try to remember this was one of Edison's first film experiments.While the footage is indeed quite interesting, the fact that it is sadly damaged is unfortunate. I'm guessing this was a time defect not that it was taken that way. For all of you who are fans of Hollywood remember that while this footage is extremely crude and beat up looking it was the beginning and you must respect it. Sure, there are much more prolific films from Edison out there but while there's nothing too special about the athlete's talent in terms of what we see today it is definitely more interesting than seeing a train arriving in a station.I'll give this an eight of ten for the simple fact it is an important historical artifact. And also it's pretty interesting in its own way. (Note: Two different 'fragments' of this survive. One is very brief and is damaged by a black shutter effect at the end. In the other, we actually see the guy make a full swing with the clubs. I'm not sure why there are two available clips, but in the quick one, the lighting is better; in the other, the lighting is darker).

This is a particularly interesting document of movie history looking at the fact that it was recorded even before the first Olympic Games of the modern era 1896 in Athens. He wasn't there most likely, but here he gets the chance to show everybody 122 years later what he can do with the clubs.This is Dickson's first work after the Monkeyshines trilogy and while he was experimenting right in front of our eyes in that one, he's certainly done a lot of testing that we didn't witness in-between the projects as well. Newark Athlete is clearly improved and quality-wise several leagues above his previous work.

. . . one giant leap toward ESPN. What is truly amazing is not the fact that one of the world's first dozen movies is a sports feature, but the fact that this "NEWARK ATHLETE" has his less than scintillating routine with two wooden exercise clubs (think mini bowling pins) shown FOUR TIMES IN RAPID SUCCESSION. Exhibited with a total running time of just 5.11 seconds, close examination proves that the initial slow-motion view of 1.97 seconds is followed up BY THE SAME THING being shown over and over and over again at successively faster speeds. No wonder guys can sit through endless replays of the least little fumble or failed catch on a Sunday afternoon--they've had long enough since this 1891 flick to BECOME GENETICALLY MUTATED against boredom, reversing what evolution took tens of thousands of years to accomplish! Who knew subliminal messaging conducted FROM THE START of motion pictures would have such a powerful AND RAPID effect in transforming the male brain! For countless centuries the world depended on men. Thanks to Edison Manufacturing Company, about all we have left nowadays is game boys!!

Newark Athlete (1891) Men Boxing (1891) Newark Athlete is just a brief fragment from the Edison studio, which was apparently just a set up test to check the conditions on the camera. The thing only lasts a few seconds so needless to say the studio wasn't trying to make anything special out of it but thankfully the thing survives so film buffs such as myself can view the early history of film. Men Boxing on the other hand seems to be the studio actually trying to put something fun on film. Two men, both wearing boxing gloves, throw a few punches at one another while smiling for the camera. Some think this once again was just testing the camera but since it contains a tad bit more I'm going to guess the men making it thought this could be something real.