SCFZ poll: Alice Guy-Blaché

[flip]

Polling the films of director Alice Guy-Blaché

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half of the Guy-Blaché films you've seen, up to a maximum of 5. So if you've seen seven of her films, for example, you can list only a top 3. It's only if you've seen ten or more of her films than you can list the maximum of five.

- i'll assume ballots are ranked unless you tell me otherwise. unranked ballots are fine.

- deadline for ballots: next Friday, in seven days, whatever day that is

- if anyone is watching films for these polls, then i'll extend the deadline three days, if someone requests an extension

- next poll: whoever posts the first ballot in this thread is free to nominate the director we poll next, unless you've nominated in this round already (everyone should get a chance). Already nominated this round: wba, greg x, ofrene, greennui, evelyn

umbugbene created an index on letterboxd of all of our previous polls here: letterboxd.com/umbugbene/list/index-of-all-scfz-director-polls/

one rule for nominees: at least 3 scfzers need to have seen 10+ of a nominee's films, or at least 4 scfzers need to have seen at least 8 of the nom's films, so if it isn't clear if that will be the case, we'll confirm that's true before moving forward

if 24 hours pass after a poll opens, and no one eligible to nominate has posted a ballot, then i'll nominate someone, and then we'll start over, and everyone will be able to nominate again

[flip]

Le Piano Irresistible
La Glu
Les Chiens Savants
Turn of the Century Surgery
Little Tich and His Funny Feet

seen 11

[Lencho of the Apes]

Seen 52.

The Consequences Of Feminism
The Irresistible Piano
The Ocean Waif
Birth, Life, Death Of Christ
Hierarchies Of Love

If anybody votes for any of her 1903-1905 talkies, I'll change #5. I'll pass on nominating the next one.

[---]

Seen 36

Little tich and his funny feet
Ocean Studies
Winter, snow dance
The burglars
Falling leaves

[---]

What numbers do we have for Asquith or Vlacil views?

[Umbugbene]

I've seen 8 Asquiths and 2 Vlácils. Unfortunately 0 Guy-Blachés.

[flip]

four asquith, two vlacil

[brian d]

seen bunches by guy-blaché, but they’re kind of hard to rate or remember (which of the half dozen serpentine dances is the best...?)

spain
the rolling bed
the glue
the consequences of feminism


8 asquith, 5 vlacil

[greennui]

Ocean Studies
Danse fleur de lotus
Dance of the Seasons: Winter, Snow Dance
Serpentine Dance by Lina Esbrard
Ballet libella

[ofrene]

Falling Leaves
The Irresistible Piano
The Race for the Sausage
Serpentine Dance by Mme. Bob Walter
Pierrette's Escapades

0 asquith, 2 vlacil

[...]

9 Asquith, 5 Vlacil and some unknown number of Blache's, not enough to feel confident remembering or rating as I never got around to logging most of my silent views and the descriptions and titles are more confusing than helpful in sorting out what's what.

Oh, but I will give a vote to

The Ocean Waif

since I watched that one fairly recently for one of the polls and liked it quite a bit.

[wba]

it seems I've seen zero from that Blaché guy, same as with Anger.
Also 0 from Asquith and a meager 2 from Vlacil.

[---]

so that's 4 with 8+ on asquith, we're good to go then with him yeah?

don't see us being able to do vlacil on this board any time soon. effing holymanm, the leaver! i know he's got a lot

[flip]

yes, asquith looks good! if he's your choice, he'll be our next poll

[---]

watched 8 more for this poll (so far). highlight was Ocean Studies (1906). Only a couple of minutes. Would suggest checking it out!

[---]

yes, asquith looks good! if he's your choice, he'll be our next poll

sick, can't wait for this one. i'm really excited to see if the films that did well for me in the cup do well here too

[kanafani]

that Blaché guy

[wba]

Just kidding. I guess I love bad jokes.

[---]

no that's an excellent joke. totally had me fooled too on the first read through, did a double-take before i got it

[kanafani]

no that's an excellent joke. totally had me fooled too on the first read through, did a double-take before i got it

Ya same here. WBA, you gotta dumb down your jokes a little. They're flying way over my head.

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Alice Guy herself among children in Granada, from her interesting Spain travelogue film:



Selections from Alisan McMahan's entry in Encyclopedia of Early Cinema:

The first woman filmmaker and among the first to direct a fiction film. The nearly one thousand films she produced had a significant impact on the development of filmic storytelling. She trained the best of the second generation of French filmmakers, including Victorin Jasset, Emile Arnaud, Romeo Bosetti, and Louis Feuillade.

She began her film career as office manager to Leon Gaumont in 1895 and was present at the March 1895 demonstration of the CInematographe Lumiere. She probably began making films herself in the spring of 1896 and was quickly put in charge of the Gaumont company's film production. Her specific goal was to apply literary narrative techniques to film.

In 1907, she married Gaumont manager Herbert Blache. Blache was transferred to the USA and eventually became manager of Gaumont's Flushing studio in New York. In 1910, Guy founded her own company, Solax, using the Flushing studio to produce films that then were distributed through Gaumont's licensed connections. Solax was critically and financially successful enough for Guy to build her own studio in Fort Lee in 1912; she became perhaps the only woman in the world to have owned her own studio plant.

The Solax Company foundered when Gaumont's access to licensed distribution was cut off, and from 1915 Guy worked for her husband's company, Blache Features, and as a director for hire... After Blache Features went bankrupt and her marriage ended in 1920, she returned to France and never made another film.

How, I wonder, will I pick only five of her fascinating films to vote for? Currently at 57 seen and I'd label 10 personal favs; I'll have to put 'em in a hat and close my eyes..

[wba]

Selections from Alisan McMahan's entry in Encyclopedia of Early Cinema:

The first woman filmmaker and among the first to direct a fiction film. The nearly one thousand films she produced had a significant impact on the development of filmic storytelling. She trained the best of the second generation of French filmmakers, including Victorin Jasset, Emile Arnaud, Romeo Bosetti, and Louis Feuillade.

She began her film career as office manager to Leon Gaumont in 1895 and was present at the March 1895 demonstration of the CInematographe Lumiere. She probably began making films herself in the spring of 1896 and was quickly put in charge of the Gaumont company's film production. Her specific goal was to apply literary narrative techniques to film.

In 1907, she married Gaumont manager Herbert Blache. Blache was transferred to the USA and eventually became manager of Gaumont's Flushing studio in New York. In 1910, Guy founded her own company, Solax, using the Flushing studio to produce films that then were distributed through Gaumont's licensed connections. Solax was critically and financially successful enough for Guy to build her own studio in Fort Lee in 1912; she became perhaps the only woman in the world to have owned her own studio plant.

The Solax Company foundered when Gaumont's access to licensed distribution was cut off, and from 1915 Guy worked for her husband's company, Blache Features, and as a director for hire... After Blache Features went bankrupt and her marriage ended in 1920, she returned to France and never made another film.

How, I wonder, will I pick only five of her fascinating films to vote for? Currently at 57 seen and I'd label 10 personal favs; I'll have to put 'em in a hat and close my eyes..

Now that you quote McMahan, I remember buying her book "Alice Guy Blaché: Lost Visionary of the Cinema" over a decade ago , while being on vacation in some foreign country... I think I've also read some parts of it, which were extremely interesting, but I somehow never managed to go through that whole thing (I recall it being quite a heavy tome), and forgot all about it. As I've also never seen a film by Alice Guy, this seems more and more like a huge gap regarding early cinema.

Do you know if any of her films have become commercially available this decade, Evelyn? Any box-sets or such? Or can they be found 'just' on the net?

[wba]

no that's an excellent joke. totally had me fooled too on the first read through, did a double-take before i got it

Ya same here. WBA, you gotta dumb down your jokes a little. They're flying way over my head.

I hope you're not fucking with me, cause my "jokes" usually aren't appreciated, and my english sucks anyway.

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Do you know if any of her films have become commercially available this decade, Evelyn? Any box-sets or such? Or can they be found 'just' on the net?

I do! Many can be found online now, but thanks to the recent home video releases. Gaumont Treasures was released in Region 1 in 2009 by Kino Lorber. A three-disc set, the first disk of which is devoted to Guy. Contains almost all of the extant films Guy directed in France between 1897 and 1907. More recently several Guy-Blache films, especially her later American work, have been included in major compilation releases (and, happily, on Blu-Ray for the first time): Flicker Alley's Early Women Filmmakers and Kino Lorber's Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers in Region 1; Lobster Films France's Les Pionnières du Cinéma and BFI's Early Women Filmmakers 1911-1940 in Region 2.

[wba]

Do you know if any of her films have become commercially available this decade, Evelyn? Any box-sets or such? Or can they be found 'just' on the net?

I do! Many can be found online now, but thanks to the recent home video releases. Gaumont Treasures was released in Region 1 in 2009 by Kino Lorber. A three-disc set, the first disk of which is devoted to Guy. Contains almost all of the extant films Guy directed in France between 1897 and 1907. More recently several Guy-Blache films, especially her later American work, have been included in major compilation releases (and, happily, on Blu-Ray for the first time): Flicker Alley's Early Women Filmmakers and Kino Lorber's Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers in Region 1; Lobster Films France's Les Pionnières du Cinéma and BFI's Early Women Filmmakers 1911-1940 in Region 2.

Thanks a lot! Great information!

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

My pleasure! (I should be a librarian...)

[wba]

My pleasure! (I should be a librarian...)

Librarian was always one of the jobs I used to daydream about (if it meant sorting and ordering books)...

PS: I've earmarked Kino Lorber's "Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers" and their two Gaumont sets. They sound very interesting (when I (if I ever) get back to watching films, that is).

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Ah, Alice, sweet Alice. How to pick just five of your films to vote for? Seen 60 now and 12 personal favs. A bit of straw-drawing here... It's clear to me that Guy(-Blaché) was one of the great filmmakers of early cinema, forever innovative in narrative and form. And what a sense of humour, to boot! No filmmaker knew how to bring a beaming smile to my face as well as she.

My votes:
1. Le piano irrésistible (1907)
2. Course à la saucisse (1907)
3. Le départ d'Arlequin et de Pierrette (1900)
4. Falling Leaves (1912)
5. Une course d'obstacle (1906)

Also recommended (but not voted for):
— Chez le photographe (1900)
— Au Bal de flore (1900)
— Chapellerie et charcuterie mécanique (1900)
— La charité du prestidigitateur (1905)
— Une histoire roulante (1906)
— L'enfant de la barricade (1907)
— Two Little Rangers (1912)

Lastly, I just read a delightful picture book about her that I'd also whole-heartedly recommend! It's called Lights! Camera! Alice!: The Thrilling True Adventures of the First Woman Filmmaker and it looks like this.

[flip]

this set a few polling records. a film from 1897 got a vote, and that's the earliest-made film to yet get a vote in our polls. and among women directors we've polled, alice guy-blache received votes for the greatest number of different films (or actually tied with the 22 for agnes varda, i counted one film twice when i first wrote that).

results

1. Le Piano Irresistible (1907) -- 18 pts
2. Ocean Studies (1906) -- 9 pts
3. Falling Leaves (1912) -- 8 pts
4. The Race for the Sausage (1907) -- 7 pts
5. The Consequences of Feminism (1906) -- 6 pts
5. Dance of the Seasons: Winter, Snow Dance (1900) -- 6 pts
5. Little Tich and His Funny Feet (1900) -- 6 pts
5. La Glu (1907) -- 6 pts
9. The Ocean Waif (1916) -- 4 pts
9. Spain (1905) -- 4 pts
9. Le Depart d'Arlequin et de Pierrette (1900) -- 4 pts
9. Danse Fleur de Lotus (1897) -- 4 pts
13. The Rolling Bed (1907) -- 3 pts
13. Les Chiens Savants (1902) -- 3 pts
15. Birth, Life, Death of Christ (1906) -- 2 pts
15. The Burglars (1897) -- 2 pts
15. Serpentine Dance by Mme Bob Walter (1899) -- 2 pts
15. Serpentine Dance by Lina Esbrard (1902) -- 2 pts
15. Turn of the Century Surgery (1900) -- 2 pts
20. Une Course d'Obstacle (1906) -- 1 pt
20. Hierarchies of Love (1906) -- 1 pt
20. Ballet Libella (1897) -- 1 pt

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Oh, FYI flip, Pierette's Escapades and Le départ d'Arlequin et de Pierrette are the same film, which will affect the tally slightly (and move her into a tie with Varda films-voted-for-wise as well).

So glad we got to poll her - and that the delight-inducing Irresistible Piano came out numéro une !