BackAlice Guy Blaché
Lost Visionary of the Cinema (book in English)
- Type
- Biographies
- Subject
- Director > Alice Guy
- Alice Guy, pioneer
- Publishing Date
- 2002
- Publisher
- Continuum
- Collection
- (no collection)
- Language
- English
Relative size
- Physical desc.
- Paperback • 404 pages • 75,66 €
5 ½ x 9 ¼ inches (14 x 23.5 cm) - ISBN-10
ISBN-13 - 0-8264-5157-8
978-0-8264-5157-6 - User Ratings
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Book Presentation:
Alice Guy BlachT (1873-1968), the world's first woman filmmaker, was one of the key figures in the development of narrative film. From 1896 to 1920 she directed 400 films (including over 100 synchronized sound films), produced hundreds more, and was the first--and so far the only--woman to own and run her own studio plant (The Solax Studio in Fort Lee, NJ, 1910-1914). However, her role in film history was completely forgotten until her own memoirs were published in 1976. This new book tells her life story and fills in many gaps left by the memoirs. Guy BlachT's life and career mirrored momentous changes in the film industry, and the long time-span and sheer volume of her output makes her films a fertile territory for the application of new theories of cinema history, the development of film narrative, and feminist film theory. The book provides a close analysis of the one hundred Guy BlachT films that survive, and in the process rewrites early cinema history.
Press Reviews:
Oddly enough, the life and work of the first woman filmmaker has received little attention. McMahan redresses the oversight by critically and comprehensively analyzing the contributions of Alice Guy Blache (1873-1968). A filmmaker herself and one of the foremost authorities on the subject of early cinema, McMahan examines the themes of the few remaining Guy Blache films, the techniques of her actors, and the evolution of a film "language" in the director's choice of shots. In her quest to uncover her subject through contact with original primary sources, McMahan reveals why research into early cinema can be problematic: it is difficult enough even to locate material, much less ascribe attribution. The author's firsthand "discoveries" also have implications for the conceptualization of early cinema. Meticulously documented, this book tells not only what this film pioneer did but also why her work is important. Anecdotal nuggets make the study compelling for general readers, too. Recommended for film history collections. Jayne Plymale, Univ. of Georgia, AthensCopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
(From Library Journal)
Press Reviews:
'McMahan has done a monumental job of excavation to locate her subject's place in the history of the cinema…A major feat of enlightened - and enlightening - scholarship.' Los Angeles Times 'An obsessively detailed history of a true motion-picture pioneer.' American Cinematographer
See the complete filmography of Alice Guy on the website: IMDB ...
> On a related topic:
Alice Guy, Léon Gaumont et les débuts du film sonore (2012)
Dir. Maurice Gianati and Laurent Mannoni
Subject: Silent Cinema
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