7/21/14
Life of an American Fireman (1903) Director: Edwin Stanton Porter
It is difficult to look upon these early cinematic gems with a critical eye, but after watching the short films of George Méliès, many other films seem to pale in comparison. Nevertheless, The Life of an American Fireman is a wonderful little narrative. In particular, I was struck by the innovative cinematic language developed here as we cut between different spaces in compressed time –a remarkable feat of editing! This is simple film offers an essential for cinephiles interested in the study of language and visual narrative.
The Life of An American Fireman represents the growth of early silent movies, it marks the birth of complex American narrative film-making. We meet an American fireman who envisions a woman in peril. Together, he and his fellow firemen race to her house where they stage a rescue operation. This was one of the first examples of editing techniques like cross-cutting –quite an amazing feat if you consider the complexity when devising two inter-spliced narratives within the same contemporaneous time sequence. The Life of An American Fireman was a smash success upon its release, both domestically and abroad, thanks to funding from the Edison Manufacturing Company. Edwin Porter’s other famous film of the era was The Great Train Robbery which was also released in 1903 to widespread shock and popularity. Porter was the son of a Pennsylvania merchant who nearly lost all his wealth in the Panic of 1893. Porter eventually worked for the Edison company as an inventor and director. He died in 1941. Today, he is remembered as something of an enigmatic man, never repeating his directorial signatures from the early oughts, and preferring to stay mostly behind the scenes. It was said that he preferred to work with machines rather than with people, but his impact on movie-making has been utterly indelible.