Etienne-Jules Marey is a name many won't recognize (and indeed, he is one of the lesser-known film pioneers) but this Frenchman was one of the few people who was making moving pictures in the early 1890s, besides W. K. L. Dickson. I have seen only about five of his films, and it's apparent that only two seconds of screen time were as far as he got, but they are every bit as important as any other films during this period as originating the motion picture industry. This film, an example of his early work, is one that has surprisingly good picture quality for a movie of 1891. It runs for a short two seconds and features two unidentified fencers going at eachother.
While there is indeed a rumor spread from countless sources on the internet that Georges Méliès's "Card Party" was the very first remake ever in film history, (a remake of the Lumiere's "Partie d'Ecarte") this film is all the evidence you need that that theory is incorrect. Edison's "Fencing", a test film of 1892, can and should receive the attribution to this title of being the first remake. As stated previously, it was made a year later than this, and is slightly different in terms of action (as it's really only a sword clash compared to the actual talent displayed in here), yet this concept of fencing being reproduced on film is still there. It remains to be discovered if Edison was influenced by this 1891 film or not. Even if both films were independent of one another, "Two Fencers" remains an important film as being the preface (or inspiration) for the first remake in film history.
On a side note, "Monkeyshines, No.2" cannot really be considered as being a remake; both the first and second films were probably never even titled originally, and if the picture quality was any clearer, we could tell that the action and the person are completely different in both. In the day, they were probably seen as independent tests, not at all as one being a remake of the other.
While there is indeed a rumor spread from countless sources on the internet that Georges Méliès's "Card Party" was the very first remake ever in film history, (a remake of the Lumiere's "Partie d'Ecarte") this film is all the evidence you need that that theory is incorrect. Edison's "Fencing", a test film of 1892, can and should receive the attribution to this title of being the first remake. As stated previously, it was made a year later than this, and is slightly different in terms of action (as it's really only a sword clash compared to the actual talent displayed in here), yet this concept of fencing being reproduced on film is still there. It remains to be discovered if Edison was influenced by this 1891 film or not. Even if both films were independent of one another, "Two Fencers" remains an important film as being the preface (or inspiration) for the first remake in film history.
On a side note, "Monkeyshines, No.2" cannot really be considered as being a remake; both the first and second films were probably never even titled originally, and if the picture quality was any clearer, we could tell that the action and the person are completely different in both. In the day, they were probably seen as independent tests, not at all as one being a remake of the other.
