Watch The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots

As the kinetoscope business declined in the second half of 1895, the Edison group hired Alfred Clark to make some films of original subject matter. He produced a number of historical tableaux, including BURNING OF JOAN OF ARC. Several of these, including THE EXECUTION OF MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, used the technique of stop-action substitution (in which a human body is replaced by a dummy) that would later be exploited by French filmmaker Georges Mèliés. Robert Thomae played Mary, an early instance of female impersonation in the movies.