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 was a modest, quiet, cautious man who felt uncomfortable working with the famous stars he directed starting in 1912.
He has directed four films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Life of an American Fireman (1903), The Great Train Robbery (1903), Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906) and Tess of the Storm Country (1914).
Acting (2 movies)
Directing (185 movies)
The Great Train Robbery
1903
His Neighbor's Wife
1913
A Heroine of '76
1911
The Whole Dam Family and the Dam Dog
1905
Life of an American Fireman
1903
The Eternal City
1915
Dream of a Rarebit Fiend
1906
The Little Train Robbery
1905
Russia, the Land of Oppression
1910
A Romance of the Rail
1903
What Happened on Twenty-Third Street, New York City
1901
The Gay Shoe Clerk
1903
Jack and the Beanstalk
1902
The 'Teddy' Bears
1907
Uncle Tom's Cabin
1903
Uncle Josh's Nightmare
1900
Terrible Teddy, the Grizzly King
1901
Circular Panorama of Electric Tower
1901
Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show
1902
A Good Little Devil
1914
Pan-American Exposition by Night
1901
Trapeze Disrobing Act
1901
Panorama of Esplanade by Night
1901
Execution of Czolgosz with Panorama of Auburn Prison
1901
The Old Maid Having Her Picture Taken
1901
Another Job for the Undertaker
1901
Laura Comstock's Bag-Punching Dog
1901
The Martyred Presidents
1901
Fun in a Bakery Shop
1902
Interrupted Bathers
1902
Burning of Durland's Riding Academy
1902
The Burlesque Suicide, No. 2
1902
What Happened in the Tunnel
1903
New York City 'Ghetto' Fish Market
1903
Rube and Mandy at Coney Island
1903
Subub Surprises the Burglar
1903
The Ex-Convict
1904
Maniac Chase
1904
How a French Nobleman Got a Wife Through the 'New York Herald' Personal Columns
1904
European Rest Cure
1904
Uncle Josh in a Spooky Hotel
1900
Coney Island at Night
1905
The Night Before Christmas
1905
A Dull Razor
1900
An Animated Luncheon
1900
Ching Ling Foo Outdone
1900
The Magician
1900
Faust and Marguerite
1900
An Artist's Dream
1900
The Tramp's Unexpected Skate
1901
Why Mr. Nation Wants a Divorce
1901
Sampson-Schley Controversy
1901
Kansas Saloon Smashers
1901
The Mystic Swing
1900
The Extra Turn
1903
The Messenger Boy's Mistake
1903
Rector's to Claremont
1904
The Unappreciated Joke
1903
White Wings on Review
1903
New York City Dumping Wharf
1903
Sorting Refuse at Incinerating Plant, New York City
1903
Fireboat 'New Yorker' in Action
1903
New York Harbor Police Boat Patrol Capturing Pirates
1903
Panorama of Riker's Island, N.Y.
1903
Nervy Nat Kisses the Bride
1904
A Rube Couple at a County Fair
1904
The Strenuous Life; or, Anti-Race Suicide
1904
Buster Makes Room for His Mama at the Bargain Counter
1904
Pranks of Buster Brown and His Dog Tige
1904
Buster's Dog to the Rescue
1904
Buster Brown and the Dude
1904
Buster and Tige Put a Balloon Vendor Out of Business
1904
Scarecrow Pump
1904
Scenes and Incidents, Russo-Japanese Peace Conference, Portsmouth, N. H.
1905
How Jones Lost His Roll
1905
The Life of an American Policeman
1905
Police Chasing Scorching Auto
1905
The Seven Ages
1905
The Burglar's Slide for Life
1905
The Kleptomaniac
1905
The Train Wreckers
1905
The Miller’s Daughter
1905
The Watermelon Patch
1905
The White Caps
1905
Three American Beauties
1906
Babies Rolling Eggs
1902
A Winter Straw Ride
1906
Kathleen Mavourneen
1906
The Terrible Kids
1906
Getting Evidence
1906
The Rivals
1907
College Chums
1907
The Trainer’s Daughter, or A Race for Love
1907
Cohen’s Fire Sale
1907
A Little Girl Who Did Not Believe in Santa Claus
1907
Laughing Gas
1907
Tale the Autumn Leaves Told
1908
A Suburbanite's Ingenious Alarm
1908
Fireside Reminiscences
1908
Tess of the Storm Country
1914
| Title | Year | Job |
|---|---|---|
| The Great Train Robbery | 1903 | Writer |
| The Great Train Robbery | 1903 | Producer |
| Dream of a Rarebit Fiend | 1906 | Producer |
| She | 1908 | Writer |
| The Cord of Life | 1909 | Producer |
| Hansel and Gretel | 1909 | Producer |
| The House of Cards | 1909 | Writer |
| A Child of the Ghetto | 1910 | Producer |
| Sunshine Sue | 1910 | Producer |
| Lost Illusions | 1911 | Writer |
| The Crucible | 1914 | Writer |