Yay Monday! The last Movie At Random of July is Before the Nickelodeon: the early cinema of Edwin S. Porter (HU DVD 13148).
Here’s our summary:
Between the years 1894 to 1908, Edwin S. Porter was the leading American filmmaker. Follows his movie career, from his first job installing Thomas Edison’s Vitascope machines in New York, through his business as a film exhibitor, to his job as head of Edison’s movie studio. There he created story films: Jack and the Beanstalk, The Life of an American Fireman, and The Great Train Robbery. By 1909, his film technique was old fashioned. Fired by Edison, he continued making films until 1915, but he had been left behind by new directors with new techniques.
And instead of the trailer, here’s Dream of a Rarebit Fiend, based on the hysterical Winsor McCay comic:
Happy viewing!