Before the Nickelodeon: The Early Cinema of Edwin S. Porter (1982) Review

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(More customer reviews)Edwin S. Porter, best known as the director of "The Great Train Robbery," is the subject of an hour-long documentary co-written and directed by film scholar Charles Musser and narrated by silent film star Blanche Sweet. The disc includes three vintage shorts never before available on DVD:
Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show (1902)
Waiting at the Church (1906)
Life of a Cowboy (1906)
There are a total of 16 Porter films on the DVD including The May Irwin Kiss (1896), The Sunken Battleship `Maine' (1898), Jack and the Beanstalk (1902) and Life of an American Fireman (1902). Obviously there is going to be some overlap with this DVD and the more expensive and expansive DVD set, Edison - The Invention of the Movies (1891-1918). However, for the low price of this set it might be worth it.

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Noted film historian Charles Musser (The Emergence of Cinema) co-wrote and directed this definitive tribute to Edwin S. Porter, Thomas Edison s mechanic and cameraman, who is now recognized as America s first important filmmaker and a major contributor to the evolution of film structure. Porter was the first U.S. filmmaker to successfully explore the possibilities of making films with continuous action from shot to shot, instead of single scene films that the showman arranged at the point of exhibition. From the time of his hugely successful The Great Train Robbery (1903) until Griffith started at Biograph (1908), Porter held center stage in early American cinema. Sadly, however, Edison quickly discarded Porter once his approach to filmmaking seemed to have become old-fashioned. Narrated by silent-movie actress Blanche Sweet, BEFORE THE NICKELODEON is a treasure trove of rarely seen material, including hand-colored photographs and sixteen complete Porter films, among them The May Irwin Kiss (1896), The Sunken Battleship Maine (1898), Jack and the Beanstalk (1902) and Life of an American Fireman (1902-1903).Special Features: Three Additional Porter Shorts: UNCLE JOSH AT THE MOVING PICTURE SHOW (1902) - WAITING AT THE CHURCH (1906) - LIFE OF A COWBOY (1906)

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