La vie et l'oeuvre d'Alice Guy-Blaché (The Lost Garden: the life and films of Alice Guy-Blaché).

The story of forgotten silent filmmaker Alice Guy and her more than 700 films.

"La vie et l'oeuvre d'Alice Guy-Blaché (The Lost Garden: the life and films of Alice Guy-Blaché)" Documentary, Biography. Canadian, 1995. Director: Marquise Lepage; Writers: Solange Collin, Marquise Lepage; Stars: Alice Guy, Roberta Blaché, Adrienne Blaché-Channing.

Alice Guy-Blaché, Parisian (July 1, 1873 – March 24, 1968) Active years 1894-1922. She was the first female Filmmaker, Director, Screenwriter& Producer. She created the first narrative film "La Fée aux Choux (The Cabbage Fairy)" in 1896 about six months before the Lumiere brother's film "A Trip to the Moon". The documentary was partly interviews with her granddaughter Adrienne Blaché-Channing and a researched documentary with film clips.

Two other films of Alice Guy were screened: "The Life and Death of Christ" 1909 (30 Minutes) and "A House Divided" 1913. Last was a short by Lois Weber, "How Men Propose" 1913.

Assignment: Write on the achievements of Alice Guy-Blaché

Achievements: 1) At the Gaumont studio in Paris, she started as a secretary. Later she became head of the studio:a director, set-designer and producer. She was at the same time required to continue her secretarial duties. 2)She shot the first non-fiction narrative film at a time when there were real films of trains or traffic. 3) Alice went to the U.S. with her director husband and prospered in the U.S. by establishing her own studio on the east coast named Solax, the largest and state of art studio in the U.S. 4) Not only did she run her own studio but did it while raising her children. Her salary was one of the largest at time. She was making $25,000 in the early century. 5) Alice created new film special effects like floating angels and Christ rising from the tomb. Her film shots and sets had three planes of action. A foreground, middle ground and perspective. This framing was later credited as being developed by Orson Wells. 6) Unusual for the time she filmed outside the studio with natural light. 7)She had better quality acting from her actors as she asked them to "Be natural" when they acted. This was different from exaggerated acting of the time. 8) She shot over 700 films.

Other background: Things did not end well for Alice Guy-Blaché. Her husband left her for a young woman in Hollywood and divorced her. He also filed for bankruptcy and sold her studio Solax. She was broke and went back to France. Besides a few small films, she was not able to film anymore. She returned to the U.S. to live with her daughter and also try to rectify that men were credited for her film work instead of her. She was unsuccessful with the studios but did leave a trail of her films in an autobiography she wrote about her work towards the end of her life.