Life of an American Fireman

Life of an American Fireman is a short, silent film Edwin S. Porter made for the Edison Manufacturing Company. It was shot late in 1902 and distributed early in 1903. One of the earliest American narrative films, it depicts the rescue of a woman and child from a burning building. Life of an American Fireman is notable for its synthesis of numerous innovations in film technique that had occurred around the turn of the century. Specifically, Porter builds a continuous narrative over seven scenes, rendered in a total of nine shots: 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, a film...