Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers
Type
Audio/Visual
Authors
Category
Nebylus kinas / Silent Cinema (DVD ir VHS)
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Volume
Six Discs (55 films)
Duration
~1,320 min
Subject
Women Filmmakers
Abstract
DISC 1 is devoted to the Solax films of Alice Guy-Blache'. There are 13 films in all including several new releases such as 3 remarkable releases from 1912, There's ALGIE THE MINER about a gay man becoming a cowboy, A FOOL & HIS MONEY featuring an all Black cast, and CANNED HARMONY which is about sound synchronizing. There's also a new version of her feature THE OCEAN WAIF (1916). Finally the disc includes Gene Gauntier's1911 film THE COLLEEN BAWN which was shot on location in Ireland.
DISC 2 is devoted to Lois Weber with the premiere of many of her mid-Teen features like THE ROSARY (1913), SUNSHINE MOLLY (1915), IDLE WIVES (1916), and the film that ended her independent career, WHAT DO MEN WANT? (1921). As mentioned earlier there is a vastly improved version of HYPOCRITES (1915) which restores the film's original order of scenes. The middle three are incomplete and there is serious nitrate damage on MOLLY.
DISC 3 focuses on serial queens Helen Holmes and Grace Cunard, genre pioneers Ruth Ann Baldwin & Cleo Madison, and comedienne Mabel Normand. There are 2 chapters of THE HAZARDS OF HELEN, 3 chapters of THE PURPLE MASK, w/Grace Cunard, Baldwin's feature Western 49-14, and a number of Keystone shorts now known to have been directed by Normand including one of Chaplin's best known early appearances in CAUGHT IN A CABARET.
The next 2 discs showcase films that are considered social commentary which is what distinguished the women filmmakers of the day from most of their male contemporaries. Disc 4 has Weber's 1916 abortion/birth control drama WHERE ARE MY CHILDREN?, Madison's HER DEFIANCE, an anti-racist short film WHEN LITTLE LINDY SANG and the first film made by and featuring Chinese-Americans. Disc 5 features fragments from Ida May Park, Alla Nazimova's startling 1923 version of Oscar Wilde's SALOME, and 2 Dorothy Davenport Reid Features, THE RED KIMONA (1925) which deals with prostitution, and the 1929 LINDA about a backwoods woman marrying a much older man. Last but not least is Lisa Lawrence's MOTHERHOOD: LIFE'S GREATEST MIRACLE (1925) which is self-explanatory.
The final disc has 4 feature films including another backwoods drama THE CALL OF THE CUMBERLANDS (1916) directed by Julia Crawford Ivers, Nell Shipman's BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY, (1919), Ida May Park's BROADWAY LOVE (1918) which features a young Lon Chaney, and a very SHEIK like romance from 1923 with Norma Talmadge that was co-directed by Frances Marion.
DISC 2 is devoted to Lois Weber with the premiere of many of her mid-Teen features like THE ROSARY (1913), SUNSHINE MOLLY (1915), IDLE WIVES (1916), and the film that ended her independent career, WHAT DO MEN WANT? (1921). As mentioned earlier there is a vastly improved version of HYPOCRITES (1915) which restores the film's original order of scenes. The middle three are incomplete and there is serious nitrate damage on MOLLY.
DISC 3 focuses on serial queens Helen Holmes and Grace Cunard, genre pioneers Ruth Ann Baldwin & Cleo Madison, and comedienne Mabel Normand. There are 2 chapters of THE HAZARDS OF HELEN, 3 chapters of THE PURPLE MASK, w/Grace Cunard, Baldwin's feature Western 49-14, and a number of Keystone shorts now known to have been directed by Normand including one of Chaplin's best known early appearances in CAUGHT IN A CABARET.
The next 2 discs showcase films that are considered social commentary which is what distinguished the women filmmakers of the day from most of their male contemporaries. Disc 4 has Weber's 1916 abortion/birth control drama WHERE ARE MY CHILDREN?, Madison's HER DEFIANCE, an anti-racist short film WHEN LITTLE LINDY SANG and the first film made by and featuring Chinese-Americans. Disc 5 features fragments from Ida May Park, Alla Nazimova's startling 1923 version of Oscar Wilde's SALOME, and 2 Dorothy Davenport Reid Features, THE RED KIMONA (1925) which deals with prostitution, and the 1929 LINDA about a backwoods woman marrying a much older man. Last but not least is Lisa Lawrence's MOTHERHOOD: LIFE'S GREATEST MIRACLE (1925) which is self-explanatory.
The final disc has 4 feature films including another backwoods drama THE CALL OF THE CUMBERLANDS (1916) directed by Julia Crawford Ivers, Nell Shipman's BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY, (1919), Ida May Park's BROADWAY LOVE (1918) which features a young Lon Chaney, and a very SHEIK like romance from 1923 with Norma Talmadge that was co-directed by Frances Marion.
Description
In the early decades of cinema, some of the most innovative and celebrated filmmakers in America were women. Alice Guy-Blaché helped establish the basics of cinematic language, while others boldly continued its development: slapstick queen Mabel Normand (who taught Charlie Chaplin the craft of directing), action star Grace Cunard, and LGBTQ icon Alla Nazimova. Unafraid of controversy, filmmakers such as Lois Weber and Dorothy Davenport Reid tackled explosive issues such as birth control, abortion, and prostitution. This crucial chapter of film history comes alive through the presentation of a wide assortment of films, carefully curated, meticulously restored in 2K and 4K from archival sources, and presented with new musical scores.
Special Features: 80-page booklet with essays and photos | Interviews with historians and archivists | Audio commentaries for select films
Special Features: 80-page booklet with essays and photos | Interviews with historians and archivists | Audio commentaries for select films
Number of Copies
1
