Few individual artists have exerted as profound an influence upon the evolution of cinema as Alice Guy (later known as Guy-Blaché). With this collection of more than 60 films, culled from the world’s leading archives and carefully mastered, Guy may no longer be seen as a “woman filmmaker.” These films, produced by Guy for Gaumont before she moved to the US, reveal her to be an unqualified pioneer whose work stands alongside that of the Lumière Brothers, Georges Méliès, and Edwin S. Porter, in cinema’s rapid growth from an optical illusion to a storytelling medium to an art form. Among the highlights are a 19th-century serpentine dance, early “trick” films, experiments with hand-coloring and synchronized sound, comedies, social commentaries, and (as the collection’s centerpiece) a 33-minute religious epic: The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ (1906).
1906
An Obstacle Course
Madame’s Cravings
A Sticky Woman
The Hierarchies of Love
The Cruel Mother
A Story Well Spun
The Drunken Mattress
The Parish Priest’s Christmas
The Truth Behind the Ape-Man
The Consequences of Feminism
Ocean Studies
The Game-Keeper’s Son
1907
The Race for the Sausage
The Glue
The Fur Hat
The Cleaning Man
A Four-Year-Old Hero
The Rolling Bed
The Irresistible Piano
On the Barricade
The Dirigible “Homeland”
* In the original hand-tinted color
† A synchronized-sound “Phonoscène”
Curated by Pierre Philippe Total running time: 225 Min. Full-frame (1.33:1)
Music by Sorties d’Artistes, except The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ: Music by Patrick Laviosa
American Edition produced by Bret Wood
hosted by YiFeng, Lily, Bob
Recorded on April 14, 2020
