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Kino Classics Releases Three New Volumes in its Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers Series
Alice Guy Blache Volume 1: The Gaumont Years,
Alice Guy Blache Volume 2: The Solax Years, and
The Intrigue: The Forgotten Films of Writer & Director
Julia Crawford Ivers
Now Available on Blu-ray & DVD from Kino Classics
New York, NY -- March 19, 2020 -- Continuing its efforts to revive the work of women filmmakers in the early years of cinema, Kino Classics introduces three new discs released under the Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers banner: Alice Guy Blaché, Volume 1: The Gaumont Years; Alice Guy Blaché, Volume 2: The Solax Years; and The Intrigue: The Forgotten Films of Writer & Director Julia Crawford Ivers.
As with Pioneers, these silent film restorations were presented in cooperation with archives around the world, including the Library of Congress, Academy Film Archive, British Film Institute, Eye Filmmuseum (Netherlands), Gaumont, George Eastman Museum, Lobster Films (France), New York Women in Film & Television's Women's Film Preservation Fund, and others.
Each volume is now available on both Blu-ray and DVD, with individual SRPs of $29.95 for the Blu-ray and $19.95 for the DVD.
After years of relative obscurity, Alice Guy Blaché is now being recognized for her role in the development of the cinematic arts. Beginning as a typist for the Gaumont Company, she volunteered to produce a series of novelty films. So successful were her films-and efficient her methods-she eventually became the studio's head of production. During cinema's first decade, the multi-talented Guy Blaché experimented with color and synchronized sound (decades before these technologies would be perfected) and cultivated such diverse genres as slapstick comedy, social realism, historical epic, and fantasy. Though rooted in the theatrical style of the Belle Époque, there is a decidedly modern sensibility to her films, as she playfully discovers comic and dramatic potential in the social mores of gender and class. This collection includes films made directly by Guy Blaché at Gaumont, as well as a sampling of films produced by others, under her executive supervision (for example, The Birth, the Life, and the Death of Christ, 1906).
CONTENTS INCLUDE: At the Hypnotist's (1898) Wonderful Absinthe (1899) At the Photographer's (1900) The Cabbage-Patch Fairy (1900) Turn-of-the-Century Surgery (1900) Midwife to the Upper Class (1902) Alice Guy Films a "Phonoscène" (1905) The Results of Feminism (1906) The Drunken Mattress (1906) The Hierarchy of Love (1906) Madame Has Her Cravings (1906) A Sticky Woman (1906) The Rolling Bed (1907) The Glue (1907) and more!
ALICE GUY BLACHÉ Volume 2:
The Solax Years
Having pioneered the art and technology of cinema during its infancy (organizing a system of film production at the Gaumont Studios in France), Alice Guy Blaché moved to the United States to co-found the Solax Company, where she served as head of production. Enjoying complete creative freedom, she explored long-form storytelling, alternating between serious dramatizations of the early 20th-century American experience (Making an American Citizen, The Strike, Frozen on Love's Trail) and playful experiments in melodrama (The Detective's Dog). Produced more than a century ago, Guy Blaché's films maintain their power to surprise the viewer, with moments of unexpected pathos and irreverent humor (the ribald cross-dressing comedies Officer Henderson and Cousins of Sherlocko). This thematically-arranged collection showcases 2K and 4K restorations, and is essential viewing for anyone interested in the evolution of the industry and the art form.
The two volumes of Alice Guy Blaché were curated by film historian Kim Tomadjoglou, whose essay Alice Guy, Woman's Work, and the Cinema, is divided among two booklets included in the Alice Guy Blaché releases. New scores were curated by music supervisor Dana Reason. As with Pioneers, efforts were made to foreground the work of emerging women composers.
CONTENTS: Starting Something (1911) Parson Sue (1911) Broken Oath (1912) A Comedy of Errors (1912) The Detective's Dog (1912) Frozen on Love's Trail (1912) The Girl in the Armchair(1912) His Double (1912) Making an American Citizen (1912) A Man's a Man (1912) The Sewer(1912) The Strike (1912) A Terrible Lesson (1912) Cousins of Sherlocko (1913) Dick Whittington and His Cat (1913) Officer Henderson (1913) The Thief (1913) Mr. Bruce Wins at Cards (1914)
Most commonly known as the principal screenwriter for ill-fated director William Desmond Taylor, publicity-shy Julia Crawford Ivers was a filmmaker of diverse talents, working as director, scenarist, production supervisor, and editor at Paramount. This collection showcases two of Ivers's directorial efforts: A Son of Erin (1916) and The Majesty of the Law (1915, of which only a single reel survives). But the centerpiece is The Intrigue (1916, directed by Frank Lloyd), a sci-fi/espionage film in which world powers vie for control of a death ray during World War I. Through these meticulous restorations of films preserved by the Library of Congress, the woman once known as "Lady in the Shadows" can now finally receive the attention her work so richly deserves.
The Intrigue was curated by Lynanne Schweighofer and George Willeman of the Library of Congress, both of whom oversaw the reconstructions.
Includes audio commentary on The Intrigue by film historian Anthony Slide, and a booklet essay by film historian April Miller.
CONTENTS: The Intrigue (1916), The Majesty of the Law (1915, reel 4 only), A Son of Erin(1916), Ben Blair (1916)
SPECIAL NOTE ON THE CONTENTS: These discs do not replicate material that was featured in Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers, with the exception of one film (The Coming of Sunbeam) which is included as a bonus short on Alice Guy Blaché, Volume 1. Most of the films in Alice Guy Blaché, Volume 1 were previously released on DVD as part of the box set Gaumont Treasures (2009). Since then, not only have the films been remastered in HD or 4K, they have been selectively curated in such a way as to spotlight those films that were made under Alice Guy Blaché's personal direction, and which reflect her sensibility as an artist (whereas Gaumont Treasures was a large assemblage of films produced at Gaumont during Guy's tenure as head of production, but not necessarily under her personal supervision). Film historian Kim Tomadjoglou is intimately acquainted with Guy's filmography and has curated the collection to focus specifically on Guy Blache's more personal films. Thus is Guy's personality as a filmmaker made more apparent. Tomadjoglou further aids in the reevaluation of Guy's films through detailed liner notes and analysis.
Kino Classics will release additional films under the Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers banner later in 2020.
Alice Guy Blache Volume 1: The Gaumont Years
Blu-ray and DVD Street Date: Now Available
Blu-ray SRP: $29.95
DVD SRP: $19.95
1897-1907 / 144 minutes
Alice Guy Blache Volume 2: The Solax Years
Blu-ray and DVD Street Date: Now Available
Blu-ray SRP: $29.95
DVD SRP: $19.95
1911-1914 / 251 minutes
The Intrigue: The Forgotten Films of Writer & Director Julia Crawford Ivers
Blu-ray and DVD Street Date: Now Available
Blu-ray SRP: $29.95
DVD SRP: $19.95
1916 / 197 minutes
Pallas Pictures presents Lenore Ulrich in THE INTRIGUE
Directed by Frank Lloyd
Screenplay by Julia Crawford Ivers
Photographed by James C. Van Trees
With Lenore Ulric, Florence Vidor, Cecil Van Auker, Howard Davies, Paul Weigel
1916 U.S. Color Tinted 64 Min.
THE MAJESTY OF THE LAW (reel 4 only)
Written and Directed by Julia Crawford Ivers
1916 U.S. Color Tinted 13 Min.
Dustin Farnum in A SON OF ERIN
Written and Directed by Julia Crawford Ivers
With Dustin Farnum, Winifred Kingston, Tom Bates, Jack Livingston
1916 U.S. Color Tinted 56 Min.
Dustin Farnum in BEN BLAIR
Directed by William Desmond Taylor
Screenplay by Julia Crawford Ivers
From a story by Will Lillibridge
Photographed by Homer Scott
With Dustin Farnum, Winifred Kingston, Herbert Standing
1916 U.S. Color Tinted 64 Min.
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