Edwin S. Porter

Biography

Edwin Stanton Porter 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. Influenced by both the "Brighton school" and the story films of Georges Méliès, Porter went on to make important shorts such as Life of an American Fireman (1903) and The Great Train Robbery (1903). In them, he helped to develop the modern concept of continuity editing, paving the way for D.W. Griffith who would expand on Porter's discovery that the unit of film structure was the shot rather than the scene. Porter, in an attempt to resist the new industrial system born out of the popularity of nickelodeons, left Edison in 1909 to form his own production company which he eventually sold in 1912. Porter remains an enigmatic figure in motion picture history. Though his significance as director of The Great Train Robbery and other innovative early films is undeniable, he rarely repeated an innovation after he had used it successfully, never developed a consistent directorial style, and in later years never protested when others rediscovered his techniques and claimed them as their own. He w…

Directed

1. The Great Train Robbery (1903) — Director
2. Life of an American Fireman (1903) — Director
3. Electrocuting an Elephant (1903) — Director
4. Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906) — Director
5. Uncle Tom's Cabin (1903) — Director
6. The 'Teddy' Bears (1907) — Director
7. Jack and the Beanstalk (1902) — Director
8. Pan-American Exposition by Night (1901) — Director
9. Circular Panorama of Electric Tower (1901) — Director
10. The Night Before Christmas (1905) — Director
11. President McKinley and Escort Going to the Capitol (1901) — Director
12. Faust and Marguerite (1900) — Director
13. The Kiss (1900) — Director
14. Terrible Teddy, the Grizzly King (1901) — Director
15. Coney Island at Night (1905) — Director
16. Uncle Josh in a Spooky Hotel (1900) — Director
17. The Whole Dam Family and the Dam Dog (1905) — Director
18. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1910) — Director
19. Uncle Josh's Nightmare (1900) — Director
20. Tess of the Storm Country (1914) — Director
21. Panorama of Esplanade by Night (1901) — Director
22. The Kleptomaniac (1905) — Director
23. The Martyred Presidents (1901) — Director
24. A Dull Razor (1900) — Director
25. The Magician (1900) — Director
26. The Little Train Robbery (1905) — Director
27. A Winter Straw Ride (1906) — Director
28. Another Job for the Undertaker (1901) — Director
29. How a French Nobleman Got a Wife Through the 'New York Herald' Personal Columns (1904) — Director
30. The Ex-Convict (1904) — Director
31. The Mystic Swing (1900) — Director
32. The Old Maid Having Her Picture Taken (1901) — Director
33. Three American Beauties (1906) — Director
34. New York City 'Ghetto' Fish Market (1903) — Director
35. The Little Girl Who Did Not Believe in Santa Claus (1907) — Director
36. How They Do Things on the Bowery (1902) — Director
37. Burning of Durland's Riding Academy (1902) — Director
38. The Tramp's Unexpected Skate (1901) — Director
39. Kansas Saloon Smashers (1901) — Director
40. "Weary Willlie" Kisses the Bride (1904) — Director

Also appeared in

1. Life of an American Fireman (1903) — Policeman
2. Before the Nickelodeon: The Cinema of Edwin S. Porter (1982) — Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)