Alice Guy-Blache’ (1873-1968) was not only the world’s first woman film director but quite possibly the first film director period. Her work As Alice Guy for Gaumont predates Georges Melies by several months although her earliest film LA FEE AUX CHOUX/THE CABBAGE FAIRY (1896) no longer survives. After coming to America in 1907 with her husband Herbert Blache’, she starts up her own studio in 1910 and opens her major studio called Solax in Fort Lee N.J. in 1912. Among the people who work for her is a young actress/writer named Lois Weber who would also develop into a major director (see HYPOCRITES also in this FIRST LADIES series from Kino).
THE OCEAN WAIF survives as a fragment of the original. It is aproximately 41 minutes long and suffers from nitrate decomposition in many places. However the skill of Alice Guy-Blache’ still shines through in the restrained performances from the actors (remember this is 1916) and the strong visual composition of the shots. Sadly this is her only feature film to survive and it’s incomplete. There are still several of her short films but for someone so important to film history, it’s a sad legacy and a sad comment on how the films of independent producer-directors were treated. As an example of that, the other film on the disc Ruth Ann Baldwin’s 49-17 which was made for Universal in 1917, survives in virtually pristine condition. It has the added attraction of an early film appearance from the great Danish born actor and later humanitarian Jean Hersholt.
Thanks are due to producer Jessica Rosner, Kino International, and pianist Jon Mirsalis for putting together and then releasing this FIRST LADIES: EARLY AMERICAN FILMMAKERS series first on VHS and now on DVD. They look as good as they possibly can and are indispensable to students of film, people interested in women pioneers, and of course silent film afficionados. Rounding out the series is Dorothy Davenport Reid’s THE RED KIMONA. To find out more about Alice Guy-Blache’ check out Alison McMahan’s thorough biography of her, ALICE GUY-BLACHE’: LOST VISIONARY OF THE CINEMA
The Capsule Critic 