MonsterPerfect Good idea lost in the noise

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) Yes these existed already 112 years as well. This is a documentary (or is it a drama movie?) by Porter, Fleming and Edison, three of the most famous early silent film pioneers in the United States. With that background, I can also forgive them for the very patriotic title as lives of firemen in other countries would not look any different. Here we see how they arrive at the scene, rescue the woman caught upstairs in the smoke and flames and finally extinguish the fire. Scenes of carriages riding to fires were very famous contents in the early days of filmmaking and these 7 minutes here include this as well. Obviously, they had no cars back then. Maybe worth a watch for historic reasons, but other than that, this was a fairly boring and predictable watch. Thumbs down.

st-shot Director Edwin S. Porter ignites things early in Life of an American Fireman with little let up in this 1903 display of narrative filmmaking. Porter literally juxtaposes (early split screen) exposition before sounding the alarm for the smoke eaters to jump into action. After some firehouse mobilization we are treated to a stunning parade of galloping fire engines in what looks to be a twelve alarm fire. Arriving at the fire (actually more smoke) engulfed home the firemen battle their way into the house to save woman and child. Fireman has all the visual and circumstantial elements of suspense and action. It is the Towering Inferno of its day filled with human drama and in the balance moments. Porter's action is both non-stop and engrossing and if he needed any indication that this stuff had a future for making money he need look no further to the crowd quickly multiplying to watch the racing fire chariots in a top rate action film from this early period of film.

edalweber Kenneth MacGowan in his book "Behind The Screen" discusses this film at length. He was familiar both with the controversial print and the paper print in the Library of Congress.He didn't think that the evidence of the paper print was conclusive.At the time, a movie could be copyrighted only as a collection of still photos, which is why the paper prints were made.For that purpose, it didn't matter whether they were in the final edited form,or even if there was more footage than in the released version.MacGowan thought that a hastily assembled negative was used to make the paper print,with all of the footage shot from one angle together.Porter therefore had more time for final editing without delaying the copyright process.The question is, if the existing copy was reedited, who did it and why? Certainly not during the silent era? by the time such editing became more common, this picture was an obsolete relict of a primitive era.And if reedited then, where are the title cards? They weren't in use in 1903 when the picture was made,but came into general use a few years later. So why "modernize" the movie in one way, but not another? It seems strange that they were not added.MacGowan admits that there is certainly a question about the complex editing, but points out that Porter took exactly the shots he needed for it.And as to why he never used it again, there are two factors. It may have been too advanced and confusing for the audiences of 1903,just as later audiences found the more complex editing of Griffith's "Intolerance" even more confusing.And there is evidence that Edison disapproved of Porter's editing.Edison involved himself in every aspect of his companies' operation, insisting on personally approving each piece of music that went on his records,for example.Which didn't help sales, as he didn't have very good taste.Edison's word was law, and Porter would have bowed to it without complaint. In addition, the Edison Catalogue of that time specifically stated that after the woman was carried out of the room by the fireman, there was a dissolve to the outside of the building,the woman pleads for the fireman to rescue the child, and he returns up the ladder.The copyright version shows the fireman carrying out the mother and returning immediately to rescue the child in one continuous shot with no dissolve to the outside.Since the catalogue is so specific on this point it would certainly seem that there was inter cutting not shown in the copyright print.

Matt Barry THE LIFE OF AN AMERICAN FIREMAN is one of the earliest narrative films. It was made in 1903 by Edwin S. Porter. The extremely short film tells of the life of an American fireman. In the finale, he races to save a girl from a burning building.Arthur White stars as the fireman. The film is very fascinating, as it gives a look at a bygone era. It is fascinating to see horse-drawn fire trucks. And this was just at the beginning of the 20th Century!