One of the unsung pioneers of cinema, Alice Guy-Blache made more than hundreds of films from 1896 to 1922 as several of them are lost with others being rediscovered thanks in some part to Pamela B. Green’s documentary film Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache. With that film, Guy-Blache’s contributions to cinema is now discussed as she left behind a massive catalog of films. Here are seven of the films that she made in her lifetime.
The Birth, the Life, and the Death of Christ
An ambitious yet multi-part 33-minute short film about the life of Jesus Christ is definitely Guy-Blache’s most ambitious work. Thanks in part to the attention to detail in the set design courtesy of art directors Henri Menessier and Robert-Jules Garnier as well as costume designer/assistant director Victorin-Hippolyte Jasset. Guy-Blache’s direction is largely straightforward in the composition as she doesn’t move the camera as she just puts the camera in a medium-wide shot to capture what is going on in the events of Christ’s life with the aid of cinematographer Anatole Thiberville. It goes from his birth and his time when he was this savior to then being crucified only to then be resurrected. It is a tremendous short that features a lush and bombastic orchestral score by Patrick Laviosa from its 2008 restored edition.
Algie the Miner
Starring Billy Quirk and Mary Foy, the 10-minute short film is a western-comedy about a man who is hoping to get the approval of his girlfriend’s father in order to marry her by going to the West. It’s a film that explores the idea of masculinity as a man goes to the West in hoping to become a man due to his quirks and such yet it is funny in some of the antics that occur. The film’s music by Marcus Sjowall, from its 2007 restoration, is playful in its approach to humor as well as its study of masculinity by Guy-Blache.
Falling Leaves
A young woman is ill with consumption as a doctor and believes she will not make it. However, the young woman’s adolescent younger sister believes it has to do with leaves as she finds a way in the hope that it would keep her sister alive and well. It’s a touching short film that explore what a young girl would do and inspire a doctor to help find a cure for consumption as it features a somber piano score by Tamar Muskal in its 2009/2010 restored edition.
Canned Harmony
Featuring music by Robert Israel from its 2009/2010 restored edition, the film is a whimsical comedy about a music teacher who refuses to have his daughter be with a young man whom he feels is unsuitable for her. In response, the young man pretends to be a revered musician to impress him. It’s a film that would feature the early usage of the Gaumont Chronophone as it has actors miming to music that is being played on set and then be re-used in post-production as an early idea of sound in silent film that showcases Guy-Blache’s approach to using music in film.
Matrimony’s Speed Limit
Starring Fraunie Fraunholz and Marian Swayne in their respective roles as a poor businessman and his rich girlfriend is a film that really diverts the idea of gender roles. The poor man breaks up with his girlfriend believing he isn’t worthy of her yet she would scheme to get him to marry her by creating a telegram claiming that an aunt of his had just died and is leaving him a fortune but he would only acquire it if he can find someone to marry by noon. It’s a funny short yet it is Guy-Blache’s approach to playing up gender roles and some of the visual gags despite a moment where the guy approaches a woman only to see what she is where it is an insensitive moment that doesn’t date well. It’s got a playful music score as it is one of Guy-Blache’s finest shorts.
A House Divided
Another short starring Fraunie Fraunholz and Marian Swayne respectively as Gerald and Diana Hutton, the 13-minute short revolves around a bickering couple who want to divorce but has to agree to live with each other for a certain amount of time while they run a perfume business. It’s a delightful comedy that showcases Guy-Blache’s usage of humor that is more about people reacting to another as well as try to live with each other as it is filled with gags that would become prevalent in comedies to come. The film features music by Christina Hunsack from its 2018 restored edition as its mixture of piano and strings help play into the humor.
The Ocean Waif
A young woman runs away from her cruel stepfather as she hides in an abandoned estate which was then purchased for rent by a young writer working on a novel as they meet and fall in love despite the fact that he’s engaged to someone else. It’s a short that showcases Guy-Blache’s approach to suspense and drama as well as humor while also featuring some incredible performances from Doris Kenyon in the titular role as well as Carlyle Blackwell as the writer. It also feature some inspired colored tints to display the feel of day and night as well as a playful and dramatic piano score piece by co-sound designer Maud Nielssen, in its 2018 restored edition, as it is one of Guy-Blache’s finest works though its presentation does feature still pictures considering that some of the footage is lost.
These seven short films by Alice Guy-Blache are some of the finest silent shorts created but also an example of Guy-Blache’s brilliance as a filmmaker. Especially in creating ideas and gags that would prove to be ahead of its time as they are shorts that anyone interested in film history must see. Especially from a woman who proved to be a real pioneer in the world of cinema as Alice Guy-Blache is a filmmaker that needs to be included in the conversation as one of its foremost figures in showing what cinema could be.
Related: Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache
© thevoid99 2020
Directed and edited by Pamela B. Green and written by Green and Joan Simon with narration by Jodie Foster, Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache is a film about the life and career of one of cinema’s early pioneers who was also considered to be one of the first real auteurs who also owned and ran her own studio. The film showcases the woman’s career as well as the films she created as well as why she was often overlooked during her career and the re-discovery of her work. The result is an engrossing and wondrous film from Pamela B. Green.
In 1895, a secretary for engineer/industrialist Leon Gaumont attended a private screening of a film entitled Workers Leaving the Lumiere Factory by Auguste and Louis Lumiere. The secretary that is Alice Guy saw a new medium as from 1896 to 1920, she made hundreds of films that would not just pioneer cinema as an art form but also would create techniques and ideas that would be the basis of cinema itself. Like the Lumiere Brothers, Georges Melies, and Edwin Porter, they would create short films that would showcase cinema’s tool in the world of storytelling yet it would be Guy that would take the format much further prompting others including Melies to step up their game. In 1907, Guy married Englishman Herbert Blache as he would be Gaumont’s production manager in the U.S. until 1910 when she and Blache formed the Solax Company to make their own films as she would use the slogan “be natural” to those who worked at the studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
One of Guy-Blache’s innovations in filmmaking was the creation of the Gaumont Chronophone system that allowed her actors to lip-sync to pre-recorded music and use the music to sync up to the film footage as it was the early ideas of sound heard in film. Guy was also ambitious as she made a 25-part series of shorts relating to Jesus Christ as it was quite bold for its time. Another form of innovation that she did during her time in New Jersey was make a film with an entirely black cast in A Fool and His Money as it was made because white actors didn’t want to work with black actors prompting Guy-Blache to just hire an all-black cast regardless of prejudice. She also made films that had gender roles reversed as well as tackle subject matters that not many were willing to go into.
Then came World War I as business started to hurt Guy-Blache’s studio but also this emergence of businessmen wanting to take over the world of cinema including Thomas Edison prompting many studios to move to California rather than work with Edison who wanted to have a lot of control on the world of film through his own equipment and such. Herbert Blache would also move to California due to his affairs with other women leading to the two to divorce in 1922 as she returned to France with their children never making films again. Especially as she wouldn’t receive the proper credit for her work with Gaumont becoming more of a businessman in running his own studio as things would get tougher during the Great Depression and World War II though Gaumont would try to rectify his faults in giving her proper credit despite people around him telling him not to.
The documentary also has Pamela B. Green who also serves as the film’s editor not just trying to find out more about Guy-Blache and her films but also asking many other filmmakers, historians, actors, and such including Julie Taymor, Peter Bogdanovich, Evan Rachel Wood, Ava Duvernay, Peter Farrelly, Andy Samberg, Julie Delpy, Lake Bell, Gillian Armstrong, cinematographer John Bailey, and many others about Guy-Blache as many of them admit to never having heard of her. There is also the story of Green not just trying to find information about her films and her life but also meeting those who knew someone who knew Guy-Blache including descendants of Guy-Blache such as her great-great granddaughter as well as descendants of Leon Gaumont as there’s a scene where the descendants of Guy-Blache and Gaumont would go to various locations where Guy-Blache made some of her films. Much of Green’s direction and editing is straightforward with a few montages of film archivists finding some of Guy-Blache’s work while also going into the difficulty of restoring her work.
The film also features archival interviews from Guy-Blache from the late 1950s and early 1960s with narration by Jodie Foster who reads some of Guy-Blache’s comments and letters with a rare audio interview between Guy-Blache and a film historian in Brussels who wonders why she isn’t credited for her work. Notably as historians dating back to the 1940s would often omit her as some claim there was a lot of resentment towards her because she was a woman as some even question the validity of her claims in the mid-1970s after she had died in 1968. It would be Guy-Blache’s daughter Simone and other historians that would keep Guy-Blache’s name alive while Green would also talk to relatives who found old letters, photos, and notebooks that lead to many clues that show proof of Guy-Blache’s claims. Upon discovering the shorts of Guy-Blache, cinematographer John Bailey and others at the Academy Arts and Science would try to recreate one of her shorts with comedy actors Chris Kattan and Horatio Sanz with the same camera that Guy-Blache used.
Sound editors Casey Langfelder and Daniel Saxlid, along with sound designers Marcello Dubaz and Kent Sparling, do superb work in providing many of the audio archives from Guy-Blache’s interview with the Belgian film historian that his grandson had kept all of these years while also capturing all of the people who are interviewed for the film as they all talk about discovering Guy-Blache and her importance in film history. The film’s music by Peter G. Adams is terrific for its mixture of low-key electronic music and ambient pieces as it play into the search for Guy-Blache’s films and everything about her. Even as Green showcases old photos of the studio she created in New Jersey as well as visual recreation of the studio itself and where filming took place in the studio.
Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache is a phenomenal film from Pamela B. Green. It’s a film that anyone interested in film history or film itself must see as it not only does some correcting into some of the real stories about cinema’s birth but also in showcasing one of its pioneers and her innovative work. Especially as it showcases the woman’s work and her brief yet illustrious career that proved how influential she was. In the end, Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blache is a sensational film from Pamela B. Green.
Related: The Short Films of Alice Guy-Blache Vol. 1
© thevoid99 2020
