The UCLA Film & Television Archive studies in history, criticism, & theory

1 total work

Before the Nickelodeon

by Charles Musser

Published 1 January 1991

Musser takes us into the long-forgotten world of early cinema—unexpectedly sophisticated and yet radically different from current movie-making. Focusing on Edwin S. Porter, most often remembered as the producer of The Great Train Robbery, Musser situates Porter’s achievements within the vibrant context of turn-of-the-century popular culture and the commercial pragmatics of the Edison Manufacturing Company—the leading American film-producing entity from 1894 to 1908.