The first known feature film! A very unusual filmed record of the Corbett-Fitzsimmons fight originally ran over 90 minutes in length.
There are often several claims to the title of the world's first feature length movie ever made. Some say the first such movie was 1906's "The Story of the Ned Kelly Gang", by Charles Tait, of which only fragments survive; some believe it to actually be "Dante's Inferno" of 1911, which was in truth the first feature length Italian spectacle.
Apparently one of the first uses of Thomas Edison's new invention was to record sports history. So it was in 1897 in Carson City, Nevada where the heavyweight title defense by reigning champion James J.
Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight, The (1897)Filmed March 17, 1897, this thing runs just eleven-seconds and features the heavyweight match between "Gentleman" Jim Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons. Considering this thing runs so short there's really not too much that we see except for a few punches being thrown but this thing is a part of history so it's certainly worth watching if you're a fan of boxing or just early cinema.
