Gal among guys: Pioneer director Alice Guy-Blache
Alice Guy, a/ka/ Mme. Blache
When Alfred Hitchock recalled the filmmakers that inspired him, he rhapsodized about pioneer French directors George Melies (A Trip to the Moon) and Alice Guy, whose 1906 The Life of Christ is among the first narrative epics. You can see it here , its dreamy tableaux influenced by the compositions of Tissot.
She was hardly the only gal among guys: The early years of the film industry saw many female filmmakers including Lois Weber, who likewise had her own studio. By the 1920s the pioneers had been displaced by the settlers, the Zukors and Goldwyns and Mayers, proprietors of the Hollywood studios. And the likes of Guy, Melies and Weber were lost to the shadows.
Martin Scorsese’s Hugo introduced Melies’ fantasies to a new generation. And Joan Simon’s 2009 retrospective at the Whitney Museum brought to light the prolific career of Alice Guy (after her marriage to Herbert Blache, Alice Guy-Blache), the prolific Franco-American producer and director of over a thousand films. She was already a seasoned pro when D.W. Griffith began directing, founding her own studio, Solax, in Fort Lee, NJ in 1910.
I bring this up because there’s a Kickstarter campaign for an Alice Guy-Blache documentary, Be Natural (inspired by the slogan she emblazoned at the portals of Solax). Hers is a story begging to be told.
In 1930, scarcely 15 years after Guy-Blache’s heyday, Louella Parsons wrote a somewhat ahistorical article about Hollywood’s new “femme helmer”: “Paramount is proud of its only woman director, Dorothy Arzner. In fact, the whole film industry is proud of Miss Arzner, who with Lois Weber, is the only woman to achieve fame as a director. Years ago, of course, there was Mme. Blache. But we haven’t heard from her in a number of years.”
Time to hear from her now. Your thoughts? Other film pioneers equally deserving of rediscovery?
Alice Guy-Blache, waiting for her close-up:… http://t.co/ZLyc9lgsJC
RT @CarrieRickey Alice Guy-Blache, waiting for her close-up:… http://t.co/uPdbykA6Vt
Fascinating. I’m really surprised, however – shocked is more like it — that with a proposed $200,000 budget, they are unable to obtain funding for such a worthy project without resorting to Kickstarter. One might think (possibly unfairly) that Robert Redford and Jody Foster, whose involvement is being touted, might themselves wish to pony up funds. But I suppose many people ask them for money.
RT @CarrieRickey: Gal among guys: Pioneer director Alice Guy-Blache – http://t.co/KYNrzWhW3K
Thank you @Carrierickey for a beautiful mention of Alice !… http://t.co/OY8ZhIfj1w
RT @CarrieRickey: Gal among guys: Pioneer director Alice Guy-Blache – http://t.co/KYNrzWhW3K
Gal among guys: Pioneer director Alice Guy-Blache http://t.co/cxslzClMFe
RT @selfstyledsiren: RT @CarrieRickey Alice Guy-Blache, waiting for her close-up:… http://t.co/uPdbykA6Vt
RT @_pamelabgreen: Gal among guys: Pioneer director Alice Guy-Blache http://t.co/cxslzClMFe
Carrie Rickey » Gal among guys: Pioneer director Alice Guy-Blache http://t.co/h97g1MkIrR
Gal among guys: Pioneer director Alice Guy-Blache by @CarrieRickey http://t.co/CdkuLJdnPO
RT @melsil: Carrie Rickey » Gal among guys: Pioneer director Alice Guy-Blache http://t.co/h97g1MkIrR
Thank you everyone for all of your comments. Robert Redford gave us his time and name, its up to us to finance the movie. Hollywood doesn’t want to make this movie! Once again thank you and remember to: Love it, pledge, share it, and follow us! 🙂
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