The quality on this early Dickson is pretty low again, compared to his works on "Newark Athlete" and "Dickson Greeting". The most interesting thing about it is maybe that we get to see Dickson's longtime companion Heise (on the left) or at least his basic contours in front of the camera here and that's the only film where this is the case.
Here's another of the test films that William Dickson made for Edison before he perfected motion pictures. It shows a man and a woman grasping hands.
While I know pretty much everything about the earliest motion pictures, there's one thing I don't understand: why, when compared to the Kinetoscopic shorts of 1891, Edison's 1892 output was so much worse in quality than previously. Take, for example, the beautifully photographed "Dickson Greeting" and "Men Boxing" of the previous year and compare it to this short: why did the quality drop so low?
A Hand Shake (1892)This film clocks in at just four seconds and features William K.L.
