The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots

1895
6.7| 0h1m| en
Details

A short film depicting the execution of Mary, Queen of the Scots. Mary is brought to the execution block and made to kneel down with her neck over it. The executioner lifts his axe ready to bring it down. After that frame Mary has been replaced by a dummy. The axe comes down and severs the head of the dummy from the body. The executioner picks up the head and shows it around for everyone else to see. One of the first camera tricks to be used in a movie.

Cast

Director

Producted By

Edison Studios

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime. Watch Now

Trailers & Clips

Reviews

GazerRise Fantastic!
Console best movie i've ever seen.
Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.
BeSummers Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.
LeftyLiebowitz It was okay. I just wish Edison had put more effort into convincing CGI.
ackstasis One of many films produced by Thomas Edison throughout the 1890s and early 1900s, 'The Execution of Mary Stuart,' sometimes referred to as 'Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots,' is reportedly the first film in history to implement trained actors. The film, running less than a minute, is comprised of two stationary shots (passed off as one for the purposes of the visual trickery), and shows an understandably somber Mary being led to the chopping block, where an axe-wielding executioner waits expectantly. Courageously, Mary obediently follows instructions to kneel down, and she lays her neck across the chopping block. With one solid hack, Mary's head comes clean off, her body slumps to the ground and the executioner ominously holds her severed head towards the camera.Never mind the glaring historical inaccuracies (it is generally agreed upon by historians that, on February 8 1587, it took three blows before Mary's head was hacked off); this is a genuinely chilling little film, and I can only imagine how unsettling audiences of its day must have found it. Even though we can clearly see the cut where the actor (Robert Thomae) was substituted with a dummy, the moment when the axe appears to slice clean through Mary's neck certainly gave me a start.
didi-5 Just over a minute and the first camera trick from Edison as Mary loses her head and the executioner holds it up. Not three blows as in historical reality, just one. It is clever and it certainly quickly gets to the point! Part of where all the sneaky CGI ideas started.
MarinaChipe *Possible spoilers ahead!* This is historically inaccurate and very dull. I mean, lets face it: who wants to see an execution? In this video (spoilers!) it took one chop to cut her head off; in real life it was three. Don't watch this if you don't want to watch a silent, black and white video.