Best movie of this year hands down!

Overrated and overhyped

One of my all time favorites.

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

If you've ever heard (or seen) Edwin S. Porter's "The Life of an American Fireman" from 1903 then you should know that this earlier drama from Williamson clearly inspired Porter's film. Not only does it tell a story that would've excited audiences, it also takes 5 minutes to do so which is, undeniably, long for its time. Because of this, I'm giving it a 7.The story is very simple: the typical rescue of a family from a burning building premise. The film uses 5 scenes to tell it: the first scene is when the cop discovers the burning building, the second the firemen leave to go to the rescue, the third a shot of the racing firemen, the fourth scene is the rescue of the man, and the continuation of the events continue in the last scene, a shot of the outside of the house.Also, note that firemen rescue scenes were very popular in cinema's first years. In 1896 the Lumiere brothers filmed a street scene of firemen racing to the rescue (A Fire Run), and even before that was an early Edison short depicting a rescue scene ("Fire Rescue Scene"). Filmmakers really must've found firemen to be an exciting subject for early dramas. While the story really isn't involved enough, for 1901 it was exceptional and the film is one that would actually be interesting to see today.

I am fairly certain that the 1901 movie "Fire!" was much more effective to watch 115 years ago than it is today. A fire starts, a man is in his house and can't get out, but the firefighters come and rescue him. He is happy. This is basically the storyline. Unfortunately, a fire is one of these occurrences which were really hard to depict in silent films. You do not hear the people scream. You do not see the bright colors of the fire. You do not hear the noises from the fire or from the wood that is burning. Quite a challenger for Scottish film pioneer James Williamson. Still, I have to say, he did a fairly decent job all in all I guess. It's not a bad watch by any means, but it's not among the best films of its time either. Maybe among the longest at 5 minutes.

The activities of fireman and their putting out fires was a common subject in early actuality films and early staged, or fiction, films, dating back to "Fire Rescue Scene" (1894) being filmed in the "Black Maria". "Fire!" is a five-shot fiction film. It shows the rescuing of persons from a burning building, from the initial discovery of the fire by a policeman, who then alerts the fire station (by running there), to the putting out of the fire and rescue of the persons in the burning home by the firemen.This was probably a rather exciting action film for its time. The onrush shot of the horse-drawn fire carriages, however, is rather unexciting by the camera being placed in front of the action from a far distance--allowing the action to (slowly) come to the camera. But, this was 1901--years before D.W. Griffith made the rescue sequence exciting through editing and varied camera placements. "Fire!" also contains a jump cut (during the second scene). However, the action crosses scenes in a fluid manner and in the appropriate direction, respecting the axis of action, unlike in "Stop Thief!", another film by Williamson from 1901. For example, the policeman in the first shot exits the frame through the left side and enters the second shot from the right. For 1901, the continuity between an interior shot and the exterior shots are fluid, too. One thing I think was noticeably funny, however, is that they were able to use a ladder to rescue one person, but for the other, they take away the ladder and bring in a large cloth for him to jump into. Seems quite unnecessary and a waste of energy; although I'm sure Williamson did it to create some more novel action.Edwin S. Porter elaborated on this genre in making "Life of an American Fireman" (1903), which contains nine shots.(Note: According to at least one source, a scene or scenes in this film may have been originally tinted red.)

For an early film, this one is actually pretty good. In this silent movie, the crew re-creates a fire and shows the firemen doing their job--starting with leaving the firehouse all the way through rescuing all the victims. It's sort of like a documentary of their job that is done by re-staging what looks an awful lot like a real fire. Unlike some similar films, this one looks authentic enough that it both entertains and gives us insight into the profession in 1901. I particularly liked seeing the horse-drawn fire wagon as well as the people jumping out the window into the trampoline-like device the firemen use. Pretty good stuff and a pretty good historical record to boot!