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.