KyleLicht Review of Life of an American Fireman

Life of an American Fireman (1903)

It's alright for it's time, but is problematic

[7/10 · 10 February 2019]

Life of an American Fireman was a very early 1903 short film running around 6 minutes. It is completely silent and the version I saw had no score or sound. From a firefighter's point of view, I find it interesting to see the horse and carriage trucks and firepoles. Horses are outdated and as far as I know, firepoles are also outdated but some places somewhere may use one or the other. In popular media, I tend to notice that firepoles are popular in portraying firefighters, moreso stereotypically than anything. I wonder if this film was a proponent in popularizing and stereotyping firefighter practices. The general plot of firemen rescuing a people from a burning home. It starts more as a documentation of the emergency process, with firefighters leaving in horses and spraying water on the house. However, it becomes more cinematic in the second half of the film by using intercutting, sets, props, and some effects. The initial "documentation" segment is rather boring with firefighters sliding down poles and riding to the house for several minutes. What makes this film interesting are the techniques it uses like the costumes and props. The firemen, who are most likely actors, are in their gear and with their hoses, and there is smoke filling up the bedroom set. It's nothing spectacular now but I'm sure it made things more interesting for the time. Also, the first shot is of a fireman sitting at the station and then an overlay in the top corner of the screen shows the family happy in their house before the fire happens. This technique was done with double exposure and a matte. The next interesting cinematic technique was the intercutting. It wasn't as much as I remember but the fact that the action cuts from the firefighters rushing to arrive and the damsel in distress screaming in her room. This creates tension between the firefighters who might make it in time or might not and the woman who has a fire reaching towards her and her child. However, the movie shoots itself in the foot by not continuing the suspense and elongating the intercut. Immediately, she is saved by a firefighter and if it prolonged, it would've been more effective. Also, I may be judging a different time period for its practices but the firemen are not doing their job right. First of all, one of the firemen grabs the damsel and climbs down the ladder, facing away from the ladder, which is completely impractical and dangerous. Then, the firemen climb into the window with their hose, not nearly wearing enough gear (worthy to mention there are plainclothes men helping on the outside) and they're not even spraying the source of the fire where the smoke is coming from. First of all, they're inside the bedroom and they're spraying the non-smoking walls and back out the window. A lot of this looks pretty ridiculous now, but it was a different time period and this is a theatrical production so I'm not expecting too much.