Fire Rescue Scene
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About Fire Rescue Scene
Smoke fills the set. A rescuer on a ladder hands a girl and a boy down to a fireman, who passes them to another fireman. The men wear rubber coats, helmets, and boots. The Edison catalogue called the smoke effects fine.
Cast & crew
More about Fire Rescue Scene
W. K. L. Dickson directed. William Heise photographed it. Edison made the 50-foot strip inside the Black Maria in December 1894, with local firemen and smoke, for Raff & Gammon's kinetoscopes. The can title is Fire Rescue — H & L, for hook and ladder. A card with the letter R in the frame marks it as a Raff & Gammon domestic subject. Silent Era places the shooting between 1 October and 17 December 1894. No player is named.
Themes
Making
The burning building is a Black Maria setup. The smoke was produced for the camera, and the firemen were brought in for the day.
Look
William Heise photographed the ladder rescue against the Black Maria interior, with smoke blown through the shot.
Preservation
Prints survive at the Library of Congress and the George Eastman Museum. The listed length is 50 feet.
Notes
- The Edison line is: 'Firemen in working uniform, rubber coats, helmets, and boots. Thrilling rescue from burning building. Smoke effects are fine.'
- The popularity of this studio rescue led Edison, with the Newark Fire Department, to film A Morning Alarm, Starting for the Fire, and Fighting the Fire in 1896.
- Prints are at the Library of Congress and the George Eastman Museum.
- Early kinetograph negatives of this period were exposed at about 48 frames a second. Fifty feet is the listed length.
- There was no copyright registration.
Scenes
- Through the smoke, two children are handed down the ladder from fireman to fireman.
Influenced
- A Morning Alarm (1896)
- Starting for the Fire (1896)
- Fighting the Fire (1896)
