Review of Monkeyshines, No. 1

. . . dinosaurs invented airplanes more than 100 million years ago (as opposed to the Wright answer everyone knows from school), or that some limey import called ROUNDHAY GARDEN SCENE was the world's first movie. Everyone has heard of MONKEYSHINES, and I have NEVER met a person in my life who even knows what a "roundhay" might be. This particular web site bases much of its information on the films of Edison Manufacturing Company on inaccurate hearsay that predated the Kino 4-disc master collection THE INVENTION OF MOVIES (2005) or Wikipedia, so apparently factual info such as the filming dates of the MONKEYSHINES series must be taken with a grain of salt. These first American films are from 1889, which means, of course, they're the world's FIRST flicks as well (was England even electrified by 1888???). MONKEYSHINES No. 1 was intended as an abstract commentary on the ultimate futility of passing off Hollywood illusions as earthly realities, which was the goal of MONKEYSHINES No. 2 and nearly every subsequent film.