Porter’s Cinematic Station

The fire that destroyed Edwin S. Porter’s projection and camera manufacturing business in 1900 might have been the best thing that ever happened to him.

It forced Porter, who had been touring the West Indies and South America as a projectionist under the unauthorized name of Thomas Edison Jr., to get a job with the very man whose name he had lifted.

This nine-year relationship between Porter and the Edison Co. allowed Porter not only to operate equipment but also to direct, write and edit films. It afforded him a creative turn, including the making of “The Great Train Robbery,” that would change the shape of American cinema.

“Porter in his own right was a gifted individual,” said Maureen Furniss, assistant professor of film studies at Chapman University, who will host a screening of the 1982 documentary “Before the Nickelodeon: The Early Cinema of Edwin S. Porter” tonight at 7 on the Orange campus. “But he also helped secure Edison’s place in the competitive [fledgling] film business.”

“Porter” opens the Chapman Film Classics series, which continues every Tuesday through Dec. 2.

At the turn of the century, American films consisted of “topical views,” short comedic interludes, nature studies or short scenes from popular plays put out by film companies or, in some cases, individuals.

As the novelty of such films faded, they were demoted from being part of the main entertainment at vaudeville shows to being “chasers”--the thing to “chase” the audience out as a new one filed in.

Porter rejuvenated American film by introducing a cinematic form of narration, which such filmmakers as George Melies had experimented with in Europe. It relied on editing with the story in mind, cutting back and forth between scenes and leaping forward and backward through time to tell the story. The existing “filmed theater” style involved a static camera, actors entering and exiting as if on stage and the camera turning on and off with each new scene, as if it were a curtain.

“In terms of film history, [Porter] may be given too much credit for some innovations,” Furniss said. “But this in no way diminishes his importance.”

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Unlike many nitrate films of the time, Porter’s work--including “The Life of an American Fireman “ (1903), “The Great Train Robbery” (1903), “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” (1903) and “Dream of a Rarebit Fiend” (1906)--survived.

“Film stock [was unstable] and the films themselves were thought of as a business and a novelty,” Furniss said. “Not many people thought of keeping them, just like not too long ago no one really thought of keeping eight-track tapes. The technology had moved on.”

Porter’s success in inventing new equipment and his films’ popularity kept Edison ahead of the competition, making it the most powerful film company in the United States during the century’s first decade.

The Edison Co. sued its rivals for patent infringement of its film machines. That led to patent pooling, in which film companies shared patents, which in turn led to standardized equipment in the United States. That thwarted European filmmakers and fortified America as the preeminent film capital.

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Though he had a knack for developing machinery, Porter embraced his roles as writer, editor and director.

While at the Edison Co., he made “The Great Train Robbery,” which quickly became the most famous and profitable film in the country and held that claim until D.W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation” in 1915. Audiences thrilled at its chase scenes and the gun battle between the posse and the outlaws. Film students today recognize “Robbery” (which is about 12 minutes long and will be screened at Chapman on Oct. 21) for its creative use of editing and time sequences and its outdoor shots, along with the famous final scene of a gunman shooting point-blank at the audience.

Porter left the Edison Co. in 1909 to establish various film companies, one of which, Famous Players in Famous Plays, established with Adolph Zukor, went on to become Paramount Studios.

He lost his fortune in the stock market crash of 1929 and lived out his final years experimenting with different film, tinkering with devices in a small machine shop. He died at 72, a death hardly noticed by the film industry.

“Porter and others went out of style,” Furniss said. “But it’s great for students to see his films. . . . To study Porter just launches you deeper into film history. He is a case history for what was going on then.”

* “Before the Nickelodeon: The Early Cinema of Edwin S. Porter” screens tonight at 7 in Argyros Forum, Room 208 at Chapman University, 333 N. Glassell St., Orange. Free. (714) 744-7018.