Quartile rating: 5/10 · 1 rating
William K.L. Dickson brings his hat from his one hand to the other and moves his head slightly, as a small nod toward the audience. This was the first film produced by the Edison Manufacturing Company to be shown to public audiences and the press.
Dickson Greeting is essentially a historical artifact rather than a film in any conventional narrative sense — a few seconds of a man tipping his hat. Plot and Ending are virtually nonexistent by definition. Acting is rudimentary, though Dickson's composed presence registers. Cinematography is primitive but functional for its era. Novelty, however, is genuinely extraordinary: this is among the very first films ever shown to public audiences, a foundational moment in cinema history, utterly singular in its place in the medium's origin story.