''Life of an American Fireman'' is a short, silent film

Edwin S. Porter Edwin Stanton Porter (April 21, 1870 – April 30, 1941) was an American film pioneer, most famous as a producer, director, studio manager and cinematographer with the Edison Manufacturing Company and the Famous Players Film Company. Of over ...

made for the

Edison Manufacturing Company The Edison Manufacturing Company, originally registered as the United Edison Manufacturing Company and often known as simply the Edison Company, was organized by inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Edison and incorporated in New York City in May 188 ...

. It was shot late in 1902 and distributed early in 1903. One of the earliest American

narrative film Narrative film, fictional film or fiction film is a motion picture that tells a fictional or fictionalized story, event or narrative. Commercial narrative films with running times of over an hour are often referred to as feature films, or feature ...

s, it depicts the rescue of a woman and child from a burning building. It bears notable similarities to the 1901 British short film '' Fire!'', directed by James Williamson. In 2016, the film was selected for preservation in the United States

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Historical significance

''Life of an American Fireman'' is notable for its synthesis of numerous innovations in film technique that had occurred in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Specifically, Porter builds a continuous narrative over seven scenes, rendered in a total of nine shots:Originally in ''Edison Films'' catalog, February 1903, 2-3; reproduced in Charles Musser, ''Before the Nickelodeon: Edwin S. Porter and the Edison Manufacturing Company'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991), 216-18. # The Fireman's Vision of an Imperilled icWoman and Child. # A Close View of a New York Fire Alarm Box. # The Interior of the Sleeping Quarters in the Fire House. # Interior of the Engine House. # The Apparatus Leaving the Engine House. # Off to the Fire. # The Arrival at the Fire. This particular construction of time and space was not invented by Porter, but he did maximize its use and further develop it in his more famous film of 1903, '' The Great Train Robbery''.

Charles Musser Charles John Musser (born 16 January 1951) is a film historian and documentary film maker. Since 1992 he has taught at Yale University, where he is currently a professor of Film and Media Studies as well as American Studies and Theater Studies. ...

, a film scholar, points out that this film represents the social role of firefighters was changing at the time.

Differing versions

The film was long considered important for its unusual

editing Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, o ...

style, being considered the earliest example of

cross-cutting Cross-cutting is an editing technique most often used in films to establish action occurring at the same time, and often in the same place. In a cross-cut, the camera will cut away from one action to another action, which can suggest the simultan ...

, notably during the final scenes of the rescue of the woman and her child. On the basis of this, Porter was hailed as an innovative editor. However, subsequent research by the

paper print Paper prints of films were an early mechanism to establish the copyright of motion pictures by depositing them with the Library of Congress. Thomas Alva Edison’s company was first to register each frame of motion-picture film onto a positive pape ...

project at the

suggested that the cross-cut version was re-edited at some unspecified time after the film's 1903 release, and that in its original form it used few, if any, of the pioneering edits claimed. As originally released, the interior point of view of the burning house is shown first and completed. Then the exact same action repeating itself is shown again from the exterior.

has chronicled the history of this controversy in ''Before the Nickelodeon'' and concluded that the paper-print version containing the repetitive action was the one released in 1903.Musser, ''Before the Nickelodeon'', 230-33.

References

External links

* *
Scene-by-scene description, with screenshots.
Telecommunication and Film Department, the University of Alabama. * {{Authority control 1903 films American black-and-white films Films about firefighting American silent short films Films directed by Edwin S. Porter United States National Film Registry films Edison Manufacturing Company films 1900s American films

Historical significance

Differing versions

See also

References

External links