Pioneers : first women filmmakers / Kino Classics ; Library of Congress ; curator, Shelley Stamp ; producer, Bret Wood ; executive producer, Illeana Douglas
6 videodiscs (approximately 1320 min.) : sound, black & white ; 4 3/4 in. 1 booklet (76 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 18 cm)
Type:
Video recordings
Silent films
Feature films
Documentary films
Short films
Film adaptations
Fiction films
Nonfiction films
Place:
United States
Date:
2018
20th century
Notes:
Title from container.
Originally released as motion pictures 1911-1929.
Idle wives based on the novel by James Oppenheim; '49 -'17 based on a story by William Wallace Cook; Where are my children? based on a story by Lucy Payton and Franklin Hall; The dream lady based on the novel Why not? by Margaret Widdemer; The risky road based on the story "Her fling" by Katherine Leiser Robbins; Bread based on a story by Evelyn Campbell; Salomé based on the play by Oscar Wilde; Back to God's country based on the novel Wapi, the walrus by James Oliver Curwood; The song of love based on a novel by Margaret Peterson.
Accompanying booklet (76 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 18 cm) comprises program notes, bibliographical references, and essays by Illeana Douglas, Shelley Stamp, Bret Wood, Arthur Dong, Charles "Buckey" Grimm, Kristen Larvick, and Deborah Levy.
Special features: Audio commentaries by Alison McMahan (for Algie the miner, Falling leaves, Canned harmony, A fool and his money, and Matrimony speed limit); An introduction (documentary short); Alice Guy-Blaché (documentary short); About the restorations (documentary short); Lois Weber (documentary short); Mabel Normand (documentary short); Serial queens (documentary short); Social commentary (documentary short); commentary tracks: Bread (Anthony Slide), Salomé (Gaylyn Studlar), The red kimona (Anthony Slide); The end of an era (documentary short).
DVD, NTSC, region 1, aspect ratio (1.33 : 1).
Contents:
Disc one : Alice Guy-Blaché: Mixed pets / Solax Film Company ; directed by Alice Guy-Blaché (1911) (14 min.) -- Tramp strategy / Solax Film Company ; directed by Alice Guy-Blaché (1911) (12 min.) -- Greater love hath no man / Solax Film Company ; directed by Alice Guy-Blaché (1911) (16 min.) -- Algie the miner / Solax Film Company ; directed by Alice Guy-Blaché (1912) (10 min.) -- Falling leaves / Solax Film Company ; directed by Alice Guy-Blaché (1912) (12 min.) -- The little rangers (fragment) (aka Two little rangers) / Solax Film Company ; directed by Alice Guy-Blaché (1912) (11 min.) -- Canned harmony / Solax Film Company ; directed by Alice Guy-Blaché (1912) (16 min.) -- A fool and his money / Solax Film Company ; directed by Alice Guy-Blaché (1912) (11 min.) -- The high cost of living / Solax Film Company ; directed by Alice Guy-Blaché (1912) (14 min.) -- Matrimony's speed limit / Solax Film Company ; directed by Alice Guy-Blaché (1913) (14 min.) -- The ocean waif / Solax Film Company ; directed by Alice Guy-Blaché (1916) (36 min.) -- The colleen bawn / The Kalem Company ; directed by Gene Gauntier and Sidney Olcott (1911) (35 min.) -- On the brink (fragment) / Rex Motion Picture Company ; directed by Edwin S. Porter and Lois Weber (1911) (12 min.)
Disc two : Lois Weber: From death to life / Rex Motion Picture Company ; directed by Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley (1911) (13 min.) -- Fine feathers / Rex Motion Picture Company ; directed by Lois Weber (1912) (15 min.) -- The rosary / Rex Motion Picture Company ; directed by Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley (1913) (14 min.) -- Suspense / Rex Motion Picture Company ; directed by Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley (1913) (11 min.) -- Lost by a hair (fragment) / Rex Motion Picture Company ; directed by Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley (1914) (4 min.) -- Hypocrites / Hobart Bosworth Productions ; written and directed by Lois Weber (1915) (51 min.) -- Sunshine Molly (fragment) / Hobart Bosworth Productions ; directed by Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley (1915) (31 min.) -- Idle wives (fragment) / Universal Film Manufacturing Company ; directed by Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley (1916) (23 min.) -- What do men want? (fragment) / Lois Weber Productions ; written and directed by Lois Weber (1921) (40 min.)
Disc three : Pioneers of genre: The hazards of Helen. Episode 13, The escape on the fast freight / The Kalem Company (1915) (11 min.) -- The hazards of Helen. Episode 26, The wild engine / The Kalem Company (1915) (10 min.) -- The purple mask. Episode 12, The vault of mystery / Universal Film Manufacturing Company ; written and directed by Grace Cunard and Francis Ford (1917) (19 min.) -- The purple mask. Episode 13 reel 1, The leap / Universal Film Manufacturing Company ; written and directed by Grace Cunard and Francis Ford (1917) (10 min.) -- A daughter of "the law" / Star Ranch Productions ; written and directed by Grace Cunard (1921) (22 min.) -- Eleanor's catch / Rex Motion Picture Company ; directed by Cleo Madison (1916) (13 min.) -- '49 - '17 / Universal Film Manufacturing Company ; written and directed by Ruth Ann Baldwin (1917) (70 min.) -- Caught in a cabaret / Keystone Film Company ; directed by Mabel Normand (1914) (23 min.) -- Mabel's blunder / Keystone Film Company ; directed by Mabel Normand (1914) (16 min.) -- Mabel and Fatty's wash day / Keystone Film Company ; directed by Mabel Normand and Roscoe Arbuckle (1915) b(13 min.) -- That ice ticket / Gibson Studios ; directed by Angela Murray Gibson (1922) (10 min.) -- Ethnographic films / directed by Zora Neale Hurston (1929) (12 min.)
Disc four : Social commentary 1: Where are my children? / Universal Film Manufacturing Company ; directed by Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley (1916) (65 min.) -- Her defiance / Universal Film Manufacturing Company ; directed by Cleo Madison and Joe King (1916) (21 min.) -- When little Lindy sang / Powers Picture Plays ; directed by Lule Warrenton (1916) (10 min.) -- The curse of Quon Gwon : when the Far East mingles with the West / Mandarin Film Company ; written and directed by Marion E. Wong (1917) (35 min.) -- Scandal / Universal Film Manufacturing Company ; directed by Lois Weber and Phillips Smalley (1915) (35 min.) -- The dream lady / Universal Film Manufacturing Company ; directed by Elsie Jane Wilson (1918) (54 min.)
Disc five : Social commentary 2: The risky road (fragment) / Universal Film Manufacturing Company ; written and directed by Ida May Park (1918) (2 min.) -- Bread (fragment) / Universal Film Manufacturing Company ; written and directed by Ida May Park (1918) (16 min.) -- Salomé / Nazimova Productions ; directed by Charles Bryant and Alla Nazimova [uncredited] -- The red kimona / Mrs. Wallace Reid Productions ; directed by Walter Lang and Dorothy Davenport Reid [uncredited] (1925) (77 min.) -- Linda / Mrs Wallace Reid Productions ; directed by Dorothy Davenport Reid (1929) (73 min.)
Disc six : The feature film: The call of the Cumberlands / Pallas Pictures ; produced by Julia Crawford Ivers (1916) (64 min.) -- Back to God's country / Canadian Photoplays Ltd., Shipman-Curwood Company ; directed by David Hartford and Nell Shipman [uncredited] (1919) (73 min.) -- The song of love / Norma Talmadge Film Corporation ; directed by Frances Marion and Chester M. Franklin
Summary:
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.
Topic:
Women motion picture producers and directors Search this
Women in the motion picture industry--History Search this
