The Letter to the Editor of Film Comment that I just wrote. Well see if they even read it. Dear Mr. Gavin - I was disheartened, though not surprised, to find that in Mr. Schraders brief overview of the birth of narrative film and his extensive look at the contributions of DW Griffith, he failed to mention the director who actually invented the narrative film: French filmmaker, Alice Guy Blache. Mr. Schrader stated early in his piece that he does not know everything under the sun about filmmaking, a fair caveat, except that the omission of Blache is both glaring and standard fare. Its also easily avoided, since it would have taken little time for Mr. Schrader to dig a bit and find a wealth of information on Blanche, who was not just the inventor of the narrative film, but also the first female director, and a megastar in her time. Working for Frances Gaumont Film Company in the mid 1890s, where films were, as Schraders article states, just small works of real world life (actualities) shot by machines that were considered toys, Blache felt differently. After viewing a play that she enjoyed one evening, she asked her employer, Leon Gaumont, if she might re-stage parts of the production and film it. He laughed, thinking that no one would ever want to see such a thing. Blache proceeded with her production, to great acclaim, and quickly mounted other narrative projects, her most important being The Life of Christ. She is said to have directed over 1,000 films, and, if you want to talk technical, as Mr. Schraders piece does, was one of the first filmmakers to experiment with sound and special effects. In addition, American filmmaker Lois Weber was, during her time, considered an equal to DW Griffith, and, by some film critics and audiences, his superior. Weber was the inventor of the split-screen process, which can be seen in her 1913 short, Suspense, a film that includes many firsts regarding inventive camera mounts, as well as a car chase that is so modern, one hardly believes it was conceived of at the time. There are many other women filmmakers who were pioneers in Hollywood and without whom, the industry could not have flourished and grown as it did. All of them, except for Dorothy Arzner (the inventor of the boom microphone) were kicked out of Hollywood around 1927 when Wall St. decided to invest in the motion picture industry after realizing its potential; they deemed women as incompetent when it came to serious business, even though the films made by women were highly profitable. The contributions and history of these women has since been ignored or erased -- until recently. In closing, while its inconceivable that Mr. Schrader could possibly know everything about the vast and complex history of the cinema, the omission of these important women, among many others, is a monumental error in judgment, and it perpetuates, once again, the false history that women did not make films, and that women still do not make films. DW Griffith is taught in every university film course, and while many of your readers may not have benefited from taking film studies classes, I would hope that an important publication such as Film Comment would not only strive to bring them cutting-edge commentary on modern cinema, but also enrich their knowledge with film histories that have been grossly overlooked. In fact, there is so much information about women filmmakers available today, via the internet and through scholarly works and research projects, that I venture to guess you could devote an entire issue to them. I think that you should. Sincerely, Stacy Davies Film Studies instructor, UC Riverside
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 00:45:15 +0000