Edwin S. Porter does a variation on a fairly typical Melies piece, the one in which someone sticks posters up on the walls, only to have them come alive, but without any of the overt magic -- sort of like reading Herodotus and noticing that you've read this story before in Bullfinch's mythology, only there it has a magic ring.
Although usually remembered only for THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY, which most histories of film would have us believe was some sort of one-shot breakthrough, Porter was a wildly experimental film creator. Here, in trying to create a less magical version of Melies, he was working on his own film grammar that would continue to dominate Edison production until long after he left.
Although usually remembered only for THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY, which most histories of film would have us believe was some sort of one-shot breakthrough, Porter was a wildly experimental film creator. Here, in trying to create a less magical version of Melies, he was working on his own film grammar that would continue to dominate Edison production until long after he left.
