Edwin S. Porter
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).
Cast
Crew
Jack and the Beanstalk
Director of Photography, Director
The Great Train Robbery
Director of Photography, Director, Writer, Producer
His Neighbor's Wife
Director
A Heroine of '76
Director
Life of an American Fireman
Director
The Whole Dam Family and the Dam Dog
Director
Rescued from an Eagle's Nest
Cinematography
The Eternal City
Director
Dream of a Rarebit Fiend
Director, Producer
The Little Train Robbery
Director
Russia, the Land of Oppression
Director
A Romance of the Rail
Director
What Happened on Twenty-Third Street, New York City
Director
The Gay Shoe Clerk
Director, Director of Photography
The 'Teddy' Bears
Director
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Director
Uncle Josh's Nightmare
Director
Terrible Teddy, the Grizzly King
Director, Director of Photography
Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show
Director
Circular Panorama of Electric Tower
Director, Director of Photography
A Good Little Devil
Director, Director of Photography
Pan-American Exposition by Night
Director
Execution of Czolgosz with Panorama of Auburn Prison
Director, Director of Photography
Trapeze Disrobing Act
Director
The Martyred Presidents
Director
Panorama of Esplanade by Night
Director
The Old Maid Having Her Picture Taken
Director
Laura Comstock's Bag-Punching Dog
Director
Another Job for the Undertaker
Director
The Burlesque Suicide, No. 2
Director
The Ex-Convict
Director
Fun in a Bakery Shop
Director
Subub Surprises the Burglar
Director
Rube and Mandy at Coney Island
Director
European Rest Cure
Director
Maniac Chase
Director
Interrupted Bathers
Director
Burning of Durland's Riding Academy
Director
New York City 'Ghetto' Fish Market
Director
What Happened in the Tunnel
Director, Director of Photography
How a French Nobleman Got a Wife Through the 'New York Herald' Personal Columns
Director
Uncle Josh in a Spooky Hotel
Director
Coney Island at Night
Director
The Night Before Christmas
Director, Director of Photography
A Dull Razor
Director
An Animated Luncheon
Director
The Magician
Director
Ching Ling Foo Outdone
Director
Faust and Marguerite
Director
An Artist's Dream
Director
The Tramp's Unexpected Skate
Director
Why Mr. Nation Wants a Divorce
Director
Kansas Saloon Smashers
Director
Sampson-Schley Controversy
Director
The Mystic Swing
Director
The Unappreciated Joke
Director
The Messenger Boy's Mistake
Director
Rector's to Claremont
Director
Panorama of Riker's Island, N.Y.
Director
The Extra Turn
Director
White Wings on Review
Director
New York Harbor Police Boat Patrol Capturing Pirates
Director
New York City Dumping Wharf
Director
Fireboat 'New Yorker' in Action
Director
Sorting Refuse at Incinerating Plant, New York City
Director
Nervy Nat Kisses the Bride
Director
A Rube Couple at a County Fair
Director
The Strenuous Life; or, Anti-Race Suicide
Director
Buster Makes Room for His Mama at the Bargain Counter
Director
Buster and Tige Put a Balloon Vendor Out of Business
Director
Buster's Dog to the Rescue
Director
Scarecrow Pump
Director
Pranks of Buster Brown and His Dog Tige
Director
Buster Brown and the Dude
Director
Scenes and Incidents, Russo-Japanese Peace Conference, Portsmouth, N. H.
Director
The Miller’s Daughter
Director
The White Caps
Director
The Seven Ages
Director
The Kleptomaniac
Director
The Watermelon Patch
Director
The Life of an American Policeman
Director
Police Chasing Scorching Auto
Director
How Jones Lost His Roll
Director, Director of Photography
The Burglar's Slide for Life
Director
The Train Wreckers
Director
Three American Beauties
Director, Director of Photography
Babies Rolling Eggs
Director
Kathleen Mavourneen
Director
A Winter Straw Ride
Director, Director of Photography
The Terrible Kids
Director
Getting Evidence
Director, Director of Photography
Cohen’s Fire Sale
Director
A Little Girl Who Did Not Believe in Santa Claus
Director
The Trainer’s Daughter, or A Race for Love
Director
The Rivals
Director
College Chums
Director
Laughing Gas
Director
Tale the Autumn Leaves Told
Director
Fireside Reminiscences
Director
A Suburbanite's Ingenious Alarm
Director
Tess of the Storm Country
Director, Director of Photography
Charleston Chain-Gang
Director
How They Do Things on the Bowery
Director
Scenes in an Infant Orphan Asylum
Director
The Old Maid in the Horsecar
Director
Rock of Ages
Director
Love by the Light of the Moon
Director
The Lighthouse by the Sea
Director
The Prisoner of Zenda
Director
Parsifal
Director, Director of Photography
Dog Factory
Director
The Colored Stenographer
Director
The Count of Monte Cristo
Director, Editor, Director of Photography
His Mother's Thanksgiving
Director
Hearts Adrift
Director, Director of Photography
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Director
How the Office Boy Saw the Ball Game
Director, Director of Photography
The Artist's Dilemma
Director
Faust
Director
Hansel and Gretel
Producer
Miss Sherlock Holmes
Director
Sherlock Holmes, Jr.
Director
The Finish of Bridget McKeen
Director
The Life of an American Cowboy
Director
Sold
Director
Zaza
Director
The Life of a Cowboy
Director
The Gentleman Burglar
Scenario Writer, Director
Such a Little Queen
Director
Jack the Kisser
Director
Appointment by Telephone
Director
The Cord of Life
Producer
Lost Illusions
Director, Writer
R. F. Outcault Making a Sketch of Buster and Tige
Director
The Twentieth Century Tramp; or, Happy Hooligan and His Airship
Director
Esquimaux Game of Snap-the-Whip
Director of Photography
Fire and Flames at Luna Park, Coney Island (An Attraction at Coney Island)
Director of Photography
Cupid’s Pranks
Director of Photography
Catching an Early Train
Director
The Reversible Divers
Director
Poor John
Director
Waiting at the Church
Director
The Morals of Marcus
Director
The White Pearl
Director
In the Bishop's Carriage
Director
City Hall to Harlem in 15 Seconds, Via the Subway Route
Director
Aunt Sallie's Wonderful Bustle
Cinematography
Life Rescue at Long Branch
Director
Photographing a Country Couple
Director
The Burlesque Suicide
Director
Burning of St. Pierre (Martinique)
Director
Sunshine Sue
Producer
Dewar's Scotch Whisky
Director
On the Western Frontier
Director
Strange Adventure of New York Drummer
Director
Capture of Yegg Bank Burglars
Director
Skirmish Between Russian and Japanese Advance Guards
Camera Operator
Empire State Express, the Second, Taking Water on the Fly
Camera Operator
On a Good Old 5¢ Trolley Ride
Camera Operator
Crossing Ice Bridge at Niagara Falls
Camera Operator, Director
Desperate Encounter Between Burglar and Police
Director
The Attack on the Mill
Director
On the Brink
Director
The Price
Director
Day at the Circus
Director
Panoramic View of Electric Tower from a Balloon
Director of Photography
Capture of the Biddle Brothers
Director
Canoeing on the Charles River, Boston, Mass.
Director of Photography
Electrocuting an Elephant
Director of Photography, Director
Bella Donna
Director
Buster's Joke on Papa (II)
Director
Buster's Joke on Papa (I)
Director
The Kiss
Director
A Country Girl's Seminary Life and Experiences
Director
Niobe
Director
The Prince and the Pauper
Director
Animated Painting
Director
When We Were Twenty-One
Director
Street Car Chivalry
Director
Japanese Acrobats
Director
The Crucible
Director, Writer
Fighting the Flames, Dreamland
Director
Railroad Smashup
Director
Panorama of Blackwell's Island
Director
Panorama Water Front and Brooklyn Bridge from East River
Director
Treloar and Miss Marshall, Prize Winners at the Physical Culture Show in Madison Square Garden
Director
The Boarding School Girls
Director
The Physical Culture Girl
Director
She
Director, Writer
The Esquimaux Village
Director
The House of Cards
Director, Writer
A Trip Around the Pan-American Exposition
Director
Nero and the Burning of Rome
Cinematography
A Child of the Ghetto
Producer
Inter-Collegiate Athletic Association Championships
Director
President McKinley Taking the Oath
Cinematography
Chicago-Michigan Football Game
Cinematography
Battle of Chemulpo Bay
Cinematography