Life of an American Fireman
About Life of an American Fireman
A fireman dreams of a woman and child in danger. A close view shows a New York alarm box being pulled. Men roll out of their beds at the firehouse, the engine leaves, and the run ends at a burning house. In the version deposited for copyright, the rescue of the woman and then the child is played out from inside the room, and then the same rescue is shown again from the street. A later print cuts back and forth between the room and the street.
Cast & crew
More about Life of an American Fireman
Edwin S. Porter made it for Edison late in 1902. It was released in January 1903. Porter is credited as writer and cameraman. Some catalogues list George S. Fleming as director. Wikidata gives six minutes. The picture is often set next to James Williamson's British film Fire! (1901).
Themes
Making
The alarm is a real New York box, photographed close, before the company leaves the station.
Look
Porter's camera records each stage of the run as its own shot, including a close view of the alarm box.
Technique
The 1903 cut repeats the rescue, inside and then outside. A later print intercuts the two.
Preservation
Selected for the National Film Registry in 2016. The uncut rescue, interior then exterior, circulates, including the Wikimedia file labeled original.
Notes
- The Edison scene list starts with the dream, the alarm box, the bunk room, the engine house, the departure, the run, and the arrival.
- The copyright version finishes the interior rescue before it shows the exterior. The cross-cut rescue is a later re-edit, not the 1903 release.
- Vivian Vaughan, James H. White, and Arthur White are in the cast listings, along with Porter.
- In 2016 the Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry.
- A Wikimedia file is labeled as the original uncut version.
Scenes
- Firemen drop from their beds when the alarm hits.
- The woman is carried out, then tells them a child is still inside.
Influenced by
- James Williamson's Fire! (1901)
