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 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).
Filmography
all 197
Movies 197
Director 151
Producer 7
self 1
Before the Nickelodeon: The Cinema of Edwin S. Porter (1982)
Bella Donna (1915)
Zaza (1915)
The White Pearl (1915)
Sold (1915)
The Eternal City (1915)
Niobe (1915)
The Morals of Marcus (1915)
The Prince and the Pauper (1915)
Such a Little Queen (1914)
Tess of the Storm Country (1914)
A Good Little Devil (1914)
Hearts Adrift (1914)
The Count of Monte Cristo (1913)
His Neighbor's Wife (1913)
In the Bishop's Carriage (1913)
The Prisoner of Zenda (1913)
The Price (1911)
Lost Illusions (1911)
The Lighthouse by the Sea (1911)
Sherlock Holmes, Jr. (1911)
On the Brink (1911)
A Heroine of '76 (1911)
His Mother's Thanksgiving (1910)
Sunshine Sue (1910)
In Life's Cycle (1910)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1910)
The Attack on the Mill (1910)
Russia, the Land of Oppression (1910)
A Child of the Ghetto (1910)
The Last Deal (1910)
Faust (1909)
The House of Cards (1909)
Hansel and Gretel (1909)
On the Western Frontier (1909)
The Star of Bethlehem (1909)
The Cord of Life (1909)
The Colored Stenographer (1909)
Miss Sherlock Holmes (1908)
The Fatal Hour (1908)
The Gentleman Burglar (1908)
Tale the Autumn Leaves Told (1908)
A Country Girl's Seminary Life and Experiences (1908)
Cupid’s Pranks (1908)
Fireside Reminiscences (1908)
Rescued from an Eagle's Nest (1908)
A Suburbanite's Ingenious Alarm (1908)
The Life of an American Cowboy (1908)
A Little Girl Who Did Not Believe in Santa Claus (1907)
Laughing Gas (1907)
College Chums (1907)
The Trainer’s Daughter, or A Race for Love (1907)
Jack the Kisser (1907)
The Rivals (1907)
Cohen’s Fire Sale (1907)
Poor John (1907)
The 'Teddy' Bears (1907)
Daniel Boone/Pioneer Days in America (1907)
Getting Evidence (1906)
Kathleen Mavourneen (1906)
Waiting at the Church (1906)
How the Office Boy Saw the Ball Game (1906)
The Life of a Cowboy (1906)
Three American Beauties (1906)
The Terrible Kids (1906)
A Winter Straw Ride (1906)
Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906)
Police Chasing Scorching Auto (1905)
The Night Before Christmas (1905)
The Life of an American Policeman (1905)
Desperate Encounter Between Burglar and Police (1905)
The Train Wreckers (1905)
The Miller’s Daughter (1905)
The Watermelon Patch (1905)
The White Caps (1905)
The Little Train Robbery (1905)
Scenes and Incidents, Russo-Japanese Peace Conference, Portsmouth, N. H. (1905)
Mystic Shriners' Day, Dreamland, Coney Island (1905)
Empire State Express, the Second, Taking Water on the Fly (1905)
The Burglar's Slide for Life (1905)
I.B. Dam and the Whole Dam Family (1905)
On a Good Old 5¢ Trolley Ride (1905)
Coney Island at Night (1905)
The Whole Dam Family and the Dam Dog (1905)
How Jones Lost His Roll (1905)
Opening of Belmont Park Race Course (1905)
The Seven Ages (1905)
The Kleptomaniac (1905)
The Strenuous Life; or, Anti-Race Suicide (1904)
Scarecrow Pump (1904)
Miss Lillian Shaffer and Her Dancing Horse (1904)
A Rube Couple at a County Fair (1904)
The Ex-Convict (1904)
Railroad Smashup (1904)
City Hall to Harlem in 15 Seconds, Via the Subway Route (1904)
Opening Ceremonies, New York Subway, October 27, 1904 (1904)
Parsifal (1904)
Nervy Nat Kisses the Bride (1904)
European Rest Cure (1904)
Rounding Up of the “Yeggmen” (1904)
How a French Nobleman Got a Wife Through the 'New York Herald' Personal Columns (1904)
Fire and Flames at Luna Park, Coney Island (An Attraction at Coney Island) (1904)
Scenes in an Infant Orphan Asylum (1904)
Canoeing on the Charles River, Boston, Mass. (1904)
Maniac Chase (1904)
Rector's to Claremont (1904)
Dog Factory (1904)
Annual Parade, New York Fire Department (1904)
Western Stage Coach Hold Up (1904)
A Brush Between Cowboys and Indians (1904)
Skirmish between Russian and Japanese advance guards (1904)
Japanese Acrobats (1904)
Pranks of Buster Brown and His Dog Tige (1904)
Buster's Dog to the Rescue (1904)
Buster and Tige Put a Balloon Vendor Out of Business (1904)
Buster Makes Room for His Mama at the Bargain Counter (1904)
Buster Brown and the Dude (1904)
Buster's Revenge on the Tramp (1904)
R. F. Outcault Making a Sketch of Buster and Tige (1904)
Crossing Ice Bridge at Niagara Falls (1904)
Photographing a Female Crook (1904)
Buster's Joke on Papa (II) (1903)
The Great Train Robbery (1903)
Buster's Joke on Papa (I) (1903)
What Happened in the Tunnel (1903)
A Romance of the Rail (1903)
The Messenger Boy's Mistake (1903)
The Extra Turn (1903)
Turning the Tables (1903)
Subub Surprises the Burglar (1903)
The Gay Shoe Clerk (1903)
Rube and Mandy at Coney Island (1903)
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1903)
Panorama of Riker's Island, N.Y. (1903)
Sorting Refuse at Incinerating Plant, New York City (1903)
The Unappreciated Joke (1903)
Fireboat 'New Yorker' in Action (1903)
New York City Dumping Wharf (1903)
White Wings on Review (1903)
New York Harbor Police Boat Patrol Capturing Pirates (1903)
New York City 'Ghetto' Fish Market (1903)
Life of an American Fireman (1903)
Electrocuting an Elephant (1903)
Interrupted Bathers (1902)
How They Do Things on the Bowery (1902)
Jack and the Beanstalk (1902)
Appointment by Telephone (1902)
Little Miss Lillian (1902)
Charleston Chain-Gang (1902)
Babies Rolling Eggs (1902)
Fun in a Bakery Shop (1902)
The Burlesque Suicide, No. 2 (1902)
Burning of Durland's Riding Academy (1902)
Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show (1902)
Capture of the Biddle Brothers (1902)
The Twentieth Century Tramp; or, Happy Hooligan and His Airship (1902)
Rock of Ages (1902)
Terrible Teddy, the Grizzly King (1901)
The Artist's Dilemma (1901)
Catching an Early Train (1901)
Execution of Czolgosz with Panorama of Auburn Prison (1901)
Panorama of Esplanade by Night (1901)
Trapeze Disrobing Act (1901)
A Phenomenal Contortionist (1901)
The Martyred Presidents (1901)
Pan-American Exposition by Night (1901)
Day at the Circus (1901)
Sampson-Schley Controversy (1901)
Circular Panorama of Electric Tower (1901)
Panoramic View of Electric Tower from a Balloon (1901)
The Reversible Divers (1901)
Photographing a Country Couple (1901)
Esquimaux Game of Snap-the-Whip (1901)
What Happened on Twenty-Third Street, New York City (1901)
The Tramp's Unexpected Skate (1901)
Another Job for the Undertaker (1901)
Laura Comstock's Bag-Punching Dog (1901)
Love by the Light of the Moon (1901)
Kansas Saloon Smashers (1901)
The Old Maid Having Her Picture Taken (1901)
Why Mr. Nation Wants a Divorce (1901)
The Finish of Bridget McKeen (1901)
The Old Maid in the Horsecar (1901)
A Dull Razor (1900)
Faust and Marguerite (1900)
An Artist's Dream (1900)
The Kiss (1900)
Uncle Josh's Nightmare (1900)
The Magician (1900)
Ching Ling Foo Outdone (1900)
An Animated Luncheon (1900)
Uncle Josh in a Spooky Hotel (1900)
The Mystic Swing (1900)
Strange Adventure of New York Drummer (1899)
'Columbia' Winning the Cup (1899)
The Cavalier's Dream (1898)
Shooting Captured Insurgents (1898)
Ratings
Information
Known ForDirecting
GenderMale
Birthday1870-04-21
Deathday1941-04-30 (71 years old)
Birth NameEdwin Stanton Porter
Birth PlaceConnellsville, United States of America
CitizenshipsUnited States of America
Also Known AsEdwin Stratton Porter, Ed Porter, Edward Porter, 에드윈 S. 포터, 에드윈 포터
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