Directing · b. 1870 · Connellsville, Pennsylvania, USA

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 th...

Directed
The Eternal City 1915 Sold 1915 Zaza 1915 The Morals of Marcus 1915 The White Pearl 1915 Bella Donna 1915 Niobe 1915 The Prince and the Pauper 1915 When We Were Twenty-One 1915 A Good Little Devil 1914 Tess of the Storm Country 1914 Hearts Adrift 1914 Such a Little Queen 1914 The Crucible 1914 His Neighbor's Wife 1913 The Prisoner of Zenda 1913 The Count of Monte Cristo 1913 In the Bishop's Carriage 1913 A Heroine of '76 1911 The Lighthouse by the Sea 1911 Sherlock Holmes, Jr. 1911 Lost Illusions 1911 On the Brink 1911 The Price 1911 Russia, the Land of Oppression 1910 His Mother's Thanksgiving 1910 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 1910 The Attack on the Mill 1910 The Colored Stenographer 1909 Faust 1909 On the Western Frontier 1909 The House of Cards 1909 The Star of Bethlehem 1909 Tale the Autumn Leaves Told 1908 A Suburbanite's Ingenious Alarm 1908 Fireside Reminiscences 1908 Miss Sherlock Holmes 1908 The Gentleman Burglar 1908 A Country Girl's Seminary Life and Experiences 1908 She 1908 The 'Teddy' Bears 1907 The Trainer’s Daughter, or A Race for Love 1907 Laughing Gas 1907 College Chums 1907 Cohen’s Fire Sale 1907 A Little Girl Who Did Not Believe in Santa Claus 1907 The Rivals 1907 Jack the Kisser 1907 Poor John 1907 Waiting at the Church 1907 Dream of a Rarebit Fiend 1906 Three American Beauties 1906 A Winter Straw Ride 1906 Getting Evidence 1906 The Life of an American Cowboy 1906 The Life of a Cowboy 1906 The Whole Dam Family and the Dam Dog 1905 The Little Train Robbery 1905 Coney Island at Night 1905 The Night Before Christmas 1905 Scenes and Incidents, Russo-Japanese Peace Conference, Portsmouth, N. H. 1905 The Seven Ages 1905 The Train Wreckers 1905 How Jones Lost His Roll 1905 The Miller’s Daughter 1905 The Life of an American Policeman 1905 The Kleptomaniac 1905 The Watermelon Patch 1905 The White Caps 1905 The Boarding School Girls 1905 How a French Nobleman Got a Wife Through the 'New York Herald' Personal Columns 1904 The Ex-Convict 1904 European Rest Cure 1904 Rector's to Claremont 1904 A Rube Couple at a County Fair 1904 "Weary Willlie" Kisses the Bride 1904 The Strenuous Life; or, Anti-Race Suicide 1904 Scarecrow Pump 1904 Scenes in an Infant Orphan Asylum 1904 R. F. Outcault Making a Sketch of Buster and Tige 1904 Capture of Yegg Bank Burglars 1904 Japanese Acrobats 1904 Fighting the Flames, Dreamland 1904 Crossing Ice Bridge at Niagara Falls 1904 Treloar and Miss Marshall, Prize Winners at the Physical Culture Show in Madison Square Garden 1904 Inter-Collegiate Athletic Association Championships 1904 The Great Train Robbery 1903 Life of an American Fireman 1903 Uncle Tom's Cabin 1903 New York City 'Ghetto' Fish Market 1903 Rube and Mandy at Coney Island 1903 The Unappreciated Joke 1903 The Messenger Boy's Mistake 1903 Panorama of Riker's Island, N.Y. 1903 Fireboat 'New Yorker' in Action 1903 New York Harbor Police Boat Patrol Capturing Pirates 1903 White Wings on Review 1903 Sorting Refuse at Incinerating Plant, New York City 1903 New York City Dumping Wharf 1903 Electrocuting an Elephant 1903 Panorama of Blackwell's Island 1903 Panorama Water Front and Brooklyn Bridge from East River 1903 The Gay Shoe Clerk 1903 A Romance of the Rail 1903 Jack and the Beanstalk 1902 Burning of Durland's Riding Academy 1902 Babies Rolling Eggs 1902 Charleston Chain-Gang 1902 How They Do Things on the Bowery 1902 Appointment by Telephone 1902 Capture of the Biddle Brothers 1902 Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show 1902 Terrible Teddy, the Grizzly King 1901 Circular Panorama of Electric Tower 1901 Pan-American Exposition by Night 1901 Panorama of Esplanade by Night 1901 Another Job for the Undertaker 1901 The Martyred Presidents 1901 The Old Maid Having Her Picture Taken 1901 Laura Comstock's Bag-Punching Dog 1901 The Tramp's Unexpected Skate 1901 Why Mr. Nation Wants a Divorce 1901 Sampson-Schley Controversy 1901 Kansas Saloon Smashers 1901 The Old Maid in the Horsecar 1901 Love by the Light of the Moon 1901 The Reversible Divers 1901 Life Rescue at Long Branch 1901 Day at the Circus 1901 The Esquimaux Village 1901 A Trip Around the Pan-American Exposition 1901 Uncle Josh's Nightmare 1900 Uncle Josh in a Spooky Hotel 1900 A Dull Razor 1900 The Magician 1900 Faust and Marguerite 1900 An Animated Luncheon 1900 An Artist's Dream 1900 Ching Ling Foo Outdone 1900 The Mystic Swing 1900 Dewar's Scotch Whisky 1900 The Kiss 1900 Strange Adventure of New York Drummer 1899
Cinematography
A Good Little Devil 1914 Hearts Adrift 1914 Tess of the Storm Country 1914 The Count of Monte Cristo 1913 Cupid’s Pranks 1908 How the Office Boy Saw the Ball Game 1906 Getting Evidence 1906 A Winter Straw Ride 1906 Three American Beauties 1906 How Jones Lost His Roll 1905 The Night Before Christmas 1905 Parsifal 1904 Fire and Flames at Luna Park, Coney Island (An Attraction at Coney Island) 1904 Canoeing on the Charles River, Boston, Mass. 1904 The Great Train Robbery 1903 The Gay Shoe Clerk 1903 What Happened in the Tunnel 1903 Electrocuting an Elephant 1903 Jack and the Beanstalk 1902 Esquimaux Game of Snap-the-Whip 1901 Terrible Teddy, the Grizzly King 1901 Circular Panorama of Electric Tower 1901 Panoramic View of Electric Tower from a Balloon 1901
Acting
Before the Nickelodeon: The Cinema of Edwin S. Porter Himself (archive footage) (uncredited) 1982
Other Credits
Sunshine Sue Producer 1910 A Child of the Ghetto Producer 1910 Hansel and Gretel Producer 1909 The Cord of Life Producer 1909 Nero and the Burning of Rome Cinematography 1908 Rescued from an Eagle's Nest Cinematography 1908 Kathleen Mavourneen Camera Operator 1906 The Terrible Kids Camera Operator 1906 Desperate Encounter Between Burglar and Police Camera Operator 1905 Empire State Express, the Second, Taking Water on the Fly Camera Operator 1905 The Burglar's Slide for Life Camera Operator 1905 On a Good Old 5¢ Trolley Ride Camera Operator 1905 Railroad Smashup Camera Operator 1904 City Hall to Harlem in 15 Seconds, Via the Subway Route Camera Operator 1904 Maniac Chase Camera Operator 1904 Dog Factory Camera Operator 1904 Skirmish Between Russian and Japanese Advance Guards Camera Operator 1904 Battle of Chemulpo Bay Cinematography 1904 Pranks of Buster Brown and His Dog Tige Camera Operator 1904 Buster and Tige Put a Balloon Vendor Out of Business Camera Operator 1904
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