View source for Sandow (film)

{{italic title}}
'''''Sandow''''' is a series of three 1894 American silent short [[actuality film]]s by the [[Edison Studios]] featuring [[bodybuilder]] [[Eugen Sandow]], directed by [[William K.L. Dickson]]. The series is considered a historically significant early film series.

==Production and distribution==
[[image:Sandow (1894).webm|thumb|left|''Sandow'' (1894)]]
Promoter [[Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr.]] found that the audience was more fascinated by Sandow's bulging muscles than by the amount of weight he was lifting, so Ziegfeld had Sandow perform poses which he dubbed "muscle display performances"... and the legendary strongman added these displays in addition to performing his feats of strength with [[barbell]]s. He added chain-around-the-chest breaking and other colorful displays to Sandow's routine. Sandow quickly became Ziegfeld's first star.
<!--Sandow performed all over [[Europe]], and went to [[United States|America]] to perform at the . He could be seen in a black velvet-lined box with his body covered in white powder to appear even more like a marble statue come to life. Sandow was a successful businessman, owning a mail-order physical instruction and [[exercise equipment]] business, as well as inventing different types of [[weight training]] equipment.  He produced Sandow Cigars, Sandow's Health & Strength Cocoa and ''Sandow'', a magazine devoted to [[physical culture]]. He opened a ''Physical Culture Studio'' in [[London]], one of the first [[health club]]s to contrast starkly with the 'sweaty' gymnasiums that had already existed, and made exercise fashionable for all classes.-->

In 1894, Sandow was featured in a short film by the [[Edison Studios]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.filmthreat.com/index.php?section=features&Id=2171 |title=Souvenir Strip of the Edison Kinetoscope |accessdate=2008-04-20 |quote=The film began with Sandow holding his hands behind his head, enabling a conspicuous bit of biceps flexing and abs display. (Speaking of display, Sandow’s posing shorts left very, very little to the imagination.) Sandow then folded his arms across his meaty chest, followed by a modified version of the crab pose that enabled another view of his abs while showing off his forearms. After a quick single biceps pose, Sandow turned around for a lat spread, showing off a ridiculously well-developed back. After a few stretching exercises, Sandow turned back to the camera and repeated his poses. |publisher=[[Film Threat]] }}</ref> The film was only part of the show and features him flexing his muscles rather than performing any feats of physical strength.  While the film's content reflects the audience's attention primarily focused on his appearance it made use of the unique capacities of the new medium.  Film theorists have attributed the appeal being the striking image of a detailed image moving in synchrony, much like the example of the [[Auguste and Louis Lumière|Lumière brothers]]' [[Repas de bébé]] where audiences were reportedly more impressed by the movement of trees swaying in the background than the events taking place in the foreground.  In 1894, he appeared in a short [[Kinetoscope]] film that was part of history's first commercial motion picture exhibition.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title | 0203853 | Sandow, No. 1}}
* {{IMDb title | 2161519 | Sandow, No. 2}}
* {{IMDb title | 2161521 | Sandow, No. 3}}
* {{IMDb title | 1428455 | Sandow, Collection}}
* {{YouTube|ExnjNS9kC_M|''Sandow''}}

[[Category:1894 films]]
[[Category:American silent short films]]
[[Category:Films directed by William Kennedy Dickson]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Documentary films about bodybuilding]]
[[Category:1890s short documentary films]]
[[Category:American short documentary films]]

{{short-silent-film-stub}}