Early Women Filmmakers - Collection (1911 - 1940) (4 Blu-ray)

Early Women Filmmakers Collection (4-disc Blu-ray set 

Directors: Mabel Normand, Alice Guy Blanche, Lois Weber, Dorothy Davenport, Germaine Dulac, Olga Preobrazhenskaya, Dorothy Arzner and Mary Ellen Bute

More women worked in film during its first two decades than at any time since. Unfortunately, many early women filmmakers have been largely written out of film history, their contributions undervalued. This necessary and timely collection highlights the work of 14 of early cinema's most innovative and influential women directors, re-writing and celebrating their rightful place in film history.

International in scope, this groundbreaking collection features over 10 hours of material, comprised of 25 films spanning 1911-1940, including many rare titles not widely available until now. Directors include Mabel Normand, Alice Guy Blanché, Lois Weber, Dorothy Davenport, Germaine Dulac, Olga Preobrazhenskaya, Dorothy Arzner and Mary Ellen Bute. These women were technically and stylistically innovative, pushing the boundaries of narrative, aesthetics, and genre. Going back to the beginning of cinema, this collection makes visible the tremendous directorial contributions women made.

FILMS

Disc 1: FALLING LEAVES (1912, 14 mins) | MAKING AN AMERICAN CITIZEN (1912, 14 mins) | THE GIRL IN THE ARMCHAIR (1912, 13 mins) | GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN (1911, 12 mins) | ALGIE, THE MINER (1912, 10 mins) | MATRIMONY'S SPEED LIMIT (1913, 13 mins) | OCEAN WAIF (1916, 29 mins)

Disc 2: SUSPENSE (1913, 10 mins) | DISCONTENT (1916, 25 mins) | THE BLOT (1921, 94 mins) | MABEL'S DRAMATIC CAREER (1913, 14 mins) | MABEL'S STRANGE PREDICAMENT (1914, 12 mins) | MABEL'S BLUNDER (1914, 15 mins) | HIS TRYSTING PLACE (1914, 22 mins) | SHOULD MEN WALK HOME? (1928, 28 mins)

Disc 3: THE WOMAN CONDEMNED (1934, 64 mins) | LA CIGARETTE (1919, 50 mins) | LA SOURIANTE MME. BEUDET (1922, 43 mins)

Disc 4: LE VILLAGE DU PECHE (1927, 88 mins) | LE ROI DES AULNES (1929, 45 mins) | DANCE, GIRL, DANCE (1940, 4 mins) | PARABOLA (1937, 9 mins)

Special features

Mabel's Dramatic Career, Mabel's Blunder, His Trysting Place and Should Men Walk Home? feature previously unreleased scores by The Meg Morley Trio

Alternative score to Should Men Walk Home? by Mordecai Smyth

Alice Guy-Blaché: a documentary (2018, 8 mins)

Lois Weber: a documentary (2018, 9 mins)

Mabel Normand: a documentary (2018, 8 mins): featurette on the director

Stills gallery

Fully illustrated booklet with new writing on the films and filmmakers by Pamela Hutchinson, Isabel Stevens, Vicki Callaghan, Ellen Cheshire, Jane Giles, Kat Ellinger, Virginie Sélavy, So Mayer and Elinor Cleghorn