Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers at the Ambler Theater
Join us at the Ambler Theater on Thursday, November 21st at 7:30 PM for a screening of silent film selections from the Kino Lorber collection celebrating the achievements of women in early filmmaking.
Falling Leaves (1912) and The Ocean Waif (1916)– Alice Guy Blaché
Alice Guy Blaché is considered among the earliest filmmakers, and possibly the first female film director. Despite that, it still seems amazing that Guy Blaché had been making films for more than 20 years when Falling Leaves was released in 1912. She began at the Gaumont company in France, and eventually directed, produced, or supervised hundreds of films. She owned her own studio in the U.S., Solax, which released Falling Leaves. Her work was noted for a more natural feel than was typical of filmmaking at that time. Falling Leaves, loosely based on the O. Henry story “The Last Leaf”, tells the story of a little girl trying to save her ailing sister.
The 1916 film The Ocean Waif is another example of her more natural filmmaking style. It survives only in pieces, but enough of the film, captions, and stills remain to tell the story of a poor young woman who escapes from her abusive guardian and meets a young author.
Suspense (1913) — Lois Weber
Lois Weber began her film career in the early 1900s, acting and directing along with her husband. In 1914 Weber became the first female director of an American feature-length film. Suspense, which was released a year before, is true to its title and tells the story of a woman (played by Weber) facing an intruder. The short film includes a number of interesting angles and techniques, including a three scene split screen sequence. It also features some shots that are staples of the thriller genre now, but which were less tried and true at the time. Weber is well known for tackling daring subject matter in other films from this time period, even by today’s standards. Several of her films dealt with drug abuse, capital punishment, poverty, and contraception.
Mabel’s Blunder (1914) — Mabel Normand
Mabel Normand was a comedic silent film actress who appeared in over 160 shorts and 23 feature-length films. You probably remember her from the iconic silent film scene as the damsel being tied to the train tracks by a large mustachioed fellow. She was also a mentor to Charlie Chaplin and appeared with him in several films. The exact number of films she directed and co-directed is not entirely clear; Mabel’s Blunder is one of those attributed solely to her. The short is one in a series of films named for their star, and highlights the classic slapstick elements of miscommunication and mistaken identity. Though not well known today, when she passed away at just 37 years of age, her pallbearers included Chaplin, D.W. Griffiths, Louis B. Mayer, Samuel Goldwyn, and Douglas Fairbanks.
Ethnographic Films (1929) — Zora Neale Hurston
Celebrated author Zora Neale Hurston is best known for her acclaimed novel, “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, but she is also one of the first female African American filmmakers. While traveling among southern African American communities collecting folktales that would become her book “Mules and Men,” Hurston shot documentary footage of everyday life, including children dancing and playing. Hurston was a student of anthropology and wanted to capture, both in words and in moving images, an important culture that deserved to be preserved.
A Daughter of “The Law” (1921) — Grace Cunard
Grace Cunard was well known in the early 1900s for her unconventional independent characters, often playing thieves, reporters, adventurers, and, in our featured short, a detective searching for bootleggers. She appeared in over 100 films and wrote the screenplays and stories for many of her films. She often shared directing duty with collaborator Francis Ford (brother of John Ford), but was the sole director on several films, including A Daughter of “The Law”.
