Author Topic: Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers  (Read 2282 times)

Bondo

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Re: Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers
« Reply #10 on: April 11, 2021, 10:25:50 AM »
While not part of the box set at the heart of this marathon, the recent release of a DVD from the same people involved in the box set of two newly restored Lois Weber films justifies a revival (and a reminder to myself to finish the box set).

A Chapter in Her Life (1923)

This is a charming film, based on the novel Jewel by Clara Louise Burnham, where the head of an estate takes on the care of his granddaughter, the daughter of what is presented as a prodigal son who married below his class. She enters into a home filled with negative energy, a cross housekeeper, an alcoholic groom (as in tending the horse), and the widow of the other son, and her adult daughter from before that marriage. Jewel is an angelic figure, with a religious tolerance trained into her by her mother. In notes hidden from mother to daughter to help through this period when her parents are away, we get certain perspectives that have become memes now, about realizing that people being mean to you are likely that way because of their own pain, and nothing personal. And so over the hour her goodness, and occasional bits of sass heal the household.

Sensation Seekers (1927)

If the prior film is more generically religious, this one is much moreso. We open on a meeting between the new, handsome reverend and a prominent society gal, nicknamed Egypt, at the beach. In that setting the bathing suits might put them in the same milieu but in fact they represent two parts of a divide in the 1920s between a more traditional Christian culture and the prohibition-skirting jazz age. But in some respects, that initial meeting was true to these two in that they do have in common a decency that we don't find as broadly among either of the groups to which they are members. In keeping with her early work in Hypocrites, the film calls out many of the reverend's flock as compromised in their Christianity, while also showing flaws among the jet set partiers, both in their way condemned as sensation seekers. The name Egypt and certain other aspects here reference the Moses story, while the perception of the interactions between her and the reverend have a bit of a Jesus and Mary Magdalane aesthetic. Ultimately it is a captivating romantic story with some social bite.

Having watched the early films in Black cinema for the other box set marathon, there is definitely cross-over here. This film, like a number of those films, very much shows this jazz bar scene as a sinful one, and roots salvation in a religious vein. It is a useful lesson to modern times that these pioneering filmmakers, progressive by not being white men, have plenty of conservative messages and aesthetics at times. We have a tendency to impute a whole range of radical views upon people whose identities are themselves made radical, when it doesn't actually reflect their desires. It is worth noting that this film does have an integrated cast, with Black performers/waiters at the jazz club, which combined with a story told on the commentary about Weber's desire to adapt Uncle Tom's Cabin, but ultimately not because the project she had originally signed onto planning to use people in blackface, she still had some measure of progressiveness.

Bondo

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Re: Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers
« Reply #11 on: March 02, 2022, 09:26:59 PM »
Jumping back into this with the goal of finally finishing this marathon/box set off in its fourth year.

Her Defiance (Cleo Madison, 1916)
I think I watched this a few months ago when I rewatched Where Are My Children? to respond to a review in the Top 100 Club. A city guy and a farm gal fall for each other while he's visiting an investment or something. Her brother and his father each aren't on board, various complications ensue. It still didn't stand out for me.

When Little Lindy Sang (Luke Warrenton, 1916)
Lindy is a Black girl in an otherwise all-white classroom, and she loves to sing, but is generally discouraged and picked on due to her race. But when an emergency makes her voice an act of salvation, things change. A silent film isn't necessarily the best setting for a story where sound is at the heart of the plot, and it also feels a bit too rosy in the end.

The Curse of Quon Gwon (Marion E. Wong, 1917)
Lacking any intertitles at all, this isn't always the easiest to follow, but basically traditional in-laws cause a lot of strain on a more modern couple. This is notable as the first Asian-American film.

Scandal (Lois Weber, 1915)
On the whole, today was a day for not following along well. This was a complex tale of gossip-induced scandal and suffering, with varying characters and relationships that weren't established well enough. Add to this a missing reel and it definitely dampened the impact. Anyway, jealousy and gossip hurt people. It is a reminder that we used to be more of an honor culture...a lot of Austen stuff has plenty of that too so it's not a shock, but having had a few modern international films that really speak to it, it is a reminder that it definitely isn't a fixed aspect of cultures.

Bondo

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Re: Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers
« Reply #12 on: March 06, 2022, 09:40:09 AM »
The Dream Lady (Elsie Jane Wilson, 1918)

A woman living with her wealthy uncle has various aspirations that seem precluded to her as improper for a woman. When he dies and she inherits, she goes about fulfilling her dreams, and also takes up trying to help those around her find ways to pursue their dreams. Though in effect it is all real enough, it has a veneer of fairy tale about it. Intriguing given when it came out, there is a certain crossdressing/trans/gay component to one of the dreams, though less about trans identity and more about the freedom of being a man in a time of highly restrictive gender roles for women. Ultimately a light, fun piece.

Something New (Nell Shipman, 1920)

Long before The Fast and the Furious, there was Something New, which I'm just going to assume was the first Western of the automotive age. A writer (Shipman) is longing for inspiration when she sees a man in a car and a man on the horse engage in a bet about the capacity of the car to keep up with the horse in the rugged dessert terrain along the Mexican border. This sparks her creativity and what we see from there I take is her story within a story, with Shipman as a sort of damsel in distress as her father's gold mine is raided by Mexican bandits and the man with the car has to navigate that terrain to save her, and they have to escape the horse-bound horde.

Obviously there is a very problematic aspect in that in the first instance Mexico is exoticized as a land of intrigue and passion, and in the second, the Mexican characters are criminal, violent and liable to rape her if they catch her. I imagine this trope in Westerns is condemned a bit less than Birth of a Nation because the real toll of stereotypes is so much greater there. If one can set that aside, it is pretty exciting to watch this car pilot through all these challenging situations in what is basically a 45 minute version of the Jeep commercials where you watch it going up a steep rocky hill. A touch repetitive at times yet still impressive. I'd say the failure from a commercial standpoint for most is I wouldn't be able to tell you what type of car it was, until near the end it does a close up on the grill to really finish the job.

Bondo

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Re: Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers
« Reply #13 on: March 20, 2022, 09:25:52 PM »
Salome (Alla Nazimova, 1923)

My prior exposure to the biblical/Oscar Wilde adaptation was Ken Russell's, and I don't particularly remember most of it to compare. What strikes me about this one is kind of a Kenneth Anger queer cinema vibe. Nazimova was apparently bisexual and there are other LGBT cast, but to the degree that there is a notable queer energy, I'd say it is homoerotic. The most obviously hinted at same-sex pining is between men, and a lot of the costuming suggests more of a gay male gaze. Nazimova's Salome by contrast is relatively modest and very androgynous, which of course could have its own lesbian markers. I watched this with a commentary track, and find the commentator's argument compelling as to a few tweaks to the story that give Salome more agency, though I guess another tweak makes her pay for that agency. It all seems very progressive for a 1923 film and is very well designed film.

The Red Kimona (Dorothy Davenport Reid, 1925)

I saw this as part of a prior release so rewatched as part of the box set with the commentary. It all kind of prattled on about the biographies of various cast and crew...and the real life story depicted in the film, about a woman who falls in love with a man, who ends up compelling her into prostitution and abandoning her, leading her to shoot him. It ends with the famous biblical verse "let he who is without sin cast the first stone" to basically argue against ostracizing her. So that's good. Though the real life figure's black widow intrigue maybe makes her less obviously the figure to salvage. I didn't remember especially liking it the first time though my ability to critique the film in this instance is compromised by the commentary track, which unlike Salome's didn't improve my experience of watching it.

Bondo

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Re: Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers
« Reply #14 on: March 21, 2022, 10:48:33 PM »
Motherhood: Life's Greatest Miracle (Lita Lawrence, 1925)

This film seems to exist to be watched in a double feature with Where Are My Children? and help show why that film is great. It starts out with a whole thing about fear of having children (due to monetary reasons, due to social reasons...the imposition on independence, or due to physical reasons) and generally seems to tout progress in maternal and child health. The story follows a wealthy couple, husband is head of a company and wife is a socialite with a busy calendar, and a modest couple, husband working at the wealthy man's company while the wife stays home doing the domestic tasks. Both become pregnant and while the latter is elated, the former asks for an abortion and is chided by her doctor. In the end, the child brings the wealthy couple back to happiness and in a way brings the modest couple into greater success. It is just really flat pro-maternity content that edges toward saying motherhood is basically essential to full womanhood. The husband in Where Are My Children? is certainly outraged with his wife in saying the title line, but that film has so much more nuance about all the contemplations.

Linda (Dorothy Davenport Reid, 1929)

Linda isn't really a bad film but definitely is a confusing one. It opens in a way that clearly paints it as an outsider's view of rural life which, while maybe not inaccurate is condescending. Linda is the elder daughter of a big family trying to make a living in timber. It's a little hard to pin down her age, and I certainly got vibes she was meant to be a late teenager, but when her father tries to basically bargain her off to an older man, it isn't really objected to as a child bride situation so much as Linda not wanting to marry THIS guy, favoring the handsome doctor. When she does inevitably end up married, I suppose I can do the math without the film actually showing any intimacy between them, but it still feels sudden when she has a kid (whilst attempting to run away). I had no sense of how much time was passing. She leaves the kid with her grandmother and heads to stay with a wealthy family the daughter of which would go to her rural community to teach on occasion. It is fun to see Linda grow into this cultured setting, but again the film kind of wildly veers as there is a shift that almost suggests the film feels she owes a duty to her husband, even under the circumstances, and her subordination in a sense. The film gives her a guilt-free happy ending, but it's just a big mess of what lesson we might take from it.

Helen Foster, who plays Linda, was 23 at the time, but has a short and somewhat childish appearance that lets her be convincing as a teen to start (though some degree older anyway by the end). It's interesting to think that if she were playing her own age, far from edging up to a child bride situation, she's actually be a bit late to the marriage game. There is a sharp contrast with Bess Flowers who plays the sort of teacher, who towers over Foster and stands out really even among many of the men. Looking it up, she's 5'8" which is a big above average now but in the 1920s would have been quite statuesque. Just curious things that stood out as having different valences in 1929 than they would now.

Bondo

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Re: Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers
« Reply #15 on: April 11, 2022, 04:13:05 PM »
Well, out with a whimper rather than a bang. I did finish up the remainder of the films but none are particularly notable or interesting. Maybe surprising as it was the official "feature films" disc, but they weren't using the extra time to do things of extra interest.

1SO

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Re: Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers
« Reply #16 on: April 11, 2022, 09:20:17 PM »
Still, always good to see a Marathon completed.
Any final notes? A Top 5 or a color-coded ranked list?

 

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