Alice Guy-Blaché

Alice Guy-Blaché (July 1, 1873 – March 24, 1968) is generally considered to be the world's first female director. French-born Alice Guy entered the film business as a secretary at Gaumont-Paris in 1896. The next year Gaumont changed from manufacturing cameras to producing movies, and Guy became one of its first film directors. She impressed the company so much with the output (she averaged two two-reelers a week) and quality of her productions that by 1905 she was made the company's production director, supervising the company's other directors. In 1907 she married Herbert Blaché, an Englishman who ran the company's British and German offices. The pair soon went to the U.S. to set up the company's operations there. In 1910 she set up her own production company in New York and built a studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey. After a period of critical and financial success, her company's fortunes declined and she eventually shut down the studio. Although she secured work directing films for several major Hollywood studios, she returned to France in 1922 after her divorce from Blache. She was never able to secure any directorial jobs there, and never made a film again. In 1964 she returned to the U.S. and lived in Mahwah, New Jersey - not far from where her original studios were - with her daughters, where she died in 1968.

Cast

Alice Guy, the First Female Filmmaker
Self - Filmmaker (archive footage)
The Cabbage-Patch Fairy
Unknown
Spain
Self - Presenter
Alice Guy Films a 'Phonoscène' in the Studio at Buttes-Chaumont, Paris
Herself, the director
Animated Portrait Shot by L and A Lumière
Herself
Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché
Self (archive footage)
The Lost Garden: The Life and Cinema of Alice Guy-Blaché
Self (archive footage)
The Women Who Run Hollywood
Self (archive footage)
Mireille
Unknown
A Solax Celebration
The Cause

Crew

The Cabbage-Patch Fairy
Director of Photography, Director, Writer
Gaumont Treasures 1897-1913
Director
When Marian was Married
Director
L'arroseur arrosé
Director
Making an American Citizen
Producer, Director, Writer
Félix Mayol Performs "The Trottins' Polka"
Director
Le Cake-walk de nouveau cirque
Director
A Sticky Woman
Director, Writer
Madame's Cravings
Director, Writer
Félix Mayol Performs "White Lilacs"
Director
The Birth, the Life and the Death of Christ
Director, Writer
The Hierarchies of Love
Director
Cook & Rilly's Trained Rooster
Director
Dranem Performs The True Jiu-Jitsu
Director
Félix Mayol Performs "Indiscreet Questions"
Director
An Obstacle Course
Director
Saharet Performs the Bolero
Director
Polin Performs "The Anatomy of a Draftee"
Director
Dranem Performs "Five O'Clock Tea"
Director
The Stepmother
Director
Ocean Studies
Director
The Race for the Sausage
Director
The Game-Keeper's Son
Director
Man Monkey
Director
The Parish Priest's Christmas
Director
The Consequences of Feminism
Director, Writer
The Drunken Mattress
Director
The Mouse in the Crinoline
Director
The Hater of Women
Director
Playing Trumps
Director
The Ocean Waif
Director
Danse basque
Director
Matrimony's Speed Limit
Director, Producer
Falling Leaves
Director, Writer
Eccentric Dance
Director
Automated Hat-Maker and Sausage-Grinder
Director
The Statue
Director
The Bricklayers
Director
Disappearing Act
Director
At the Club
Director
The Landlady
Director
How Monsieur Takes His Bath
Director
Spain
Director
The Turn-of-the-Century Blind Man
Director
At the Hypnotist's
Director
At the Photographer's
Director
Faust and Mephistopheles
Director
Avenue de l'Opéra
Director
Midwife to the Upper Class
Director, Producer
Bathing in a Stream
Director
Wonderful Absinthe
Director
Pierrette's Escapades
Director
The Fisherman at the Stream
Director
Serpentine Dance by Mme. Bob Walter
Director
The Cabbage-Patch Fairy
Director, Writer
The Burglars
Director
Turn-of-the-Century Surgery
Director
Dance of the Seasons: Winter, Snow Dance
Director
Miss Dundee and Her Performing Dogs
Director
An Untimely Intrusion
Director
The Magician's Alms
Director
Clown, Dog and Balloon
Director
At the Floral Ball
Director
Danse Fleur de Lotus
Director
Burstup Homes' Murder Case
Director
A House Divided
Director, Producer
Canned Harmony
Director, Producer
Danse du papillon
Director
Faust
Director
Entrée Et Sortie De La Mine
Director
Danse Serpentine (In a Lion's Cage)
Director
Little Tich and His Funny Feet
Director
The Pit and the Pendulum
Director
Ballet Libella
Director
The Tigress
Director
La cène
Director
Napoleon
Director
The Girl in the Arm-Chair
Director, Producer
My Madonna
Director, Writer
Heart of a Painted Woman
Director
What Will People Say?
Director
The Woman of Mystery
Director, Scenario Writer, Producer
The Malagueña and the Bullfighter
Director
Electrocution
Director
L'utilité des rayons x
Director
Greater Love Hath No Man
Director, Writer, Executive Producer
In the Year 2000
Director
Algie, the Miner
Producer, Director
Les démolisseurs
Director
Les congierges
Director
The Banknote
Director
L'Honneur du Corse
Director
Two Little Rangers
Director
A Fool and His Money
Producer, Director
The Monster and the Girl
Director
Across the Mexican Line
Director
Cupid and the Comet
Director, Producer
The Lure
Writer, Director
Tramp Strategy
Director
The Vampire
Producer, Director
Coucher d'une Parisienne
Scenario Writer, Director
Surprise Attack on a House at Daybreak
Director
The Dream Woman
Screenplay, Director
Les Druides
Director
A Priest's Conscience
Director, Writer
Esmeralda
Director
A Severe Test
Director
La Sortie du Bain
Director
The Adventurer
Director
Danse fantaisiste
Director
La Gigue
Director
Serpentine Dance
Director
The Detective's Dog
Director
A Story Well Spun
Director
Gavotte directoire
Director
His Mother's Hymn
Director
Alice Guy - 13 Courts-métrages
Director
His Double
Director
Mixed Pets
Director
The Crime on Temple Street
Director
The First Cigarette
Director
The Coming of Sunbeam
Director
The High Cost of Living
Director
The Roads That Lead Home
Producer, Director
The New Love And The Old
Director, Producer
God Disposes
Director
Cake Walk, Performed by Nouveau Cirque
Director
House of Cards
Director, Writer
The Empress
Director, Writer
Beasts of the Jungle
Writer, Producer
Fra Diavolo
Writer, Director
Dick Whittington and His Cat
Director, Writer
The Great Adventure
Director
For Love of the Flag
Director
A Terrible Lesson
Director
In a Bamboo Hut
Director
Frozen on Love's Trail
Director
A Comedy of Errors
Director, Producer
Parson Sue
Director
Starting Something
Director
The Sock
Director
The Thief
Director
A Man's a Man
Director
The Strike
Director
Butterfly Dances
Director
Cousins of Sherlocko
Director
Officer Henderson
Director
Mireille
Director
The Sewer
Producer
Course de taureaux
Director
The Song of the Wage Slave
Director
Broken Oaths
Director
Les malabares: Les acrobats
Director
Bonsoir
Co-Director
The Fairy of Spring
Director
Shadows of the Moulin Rouge
Director, Writer, Producer
Behind the Mask
Director
Dublin Dan
Producer
Kelly from the Emerald Isle
Writer
The Rogues of Paris
Director, Producer
The Face at the Window
Director
When You and I Were Young
Director
The Violin Maker of Nuremberg
Director
Mignon
Director
Mrs. Cranston's Jewels
Director
Hubby Does the Washing
Director, Producer
Blighted Lives
Director
Child of the Tenements
Director
The Reformation of Mary
Director, Producer
The Wooing of Alice
Director
Souls in the Shadow
Director
Phantom Paradise
Director
Treasures on the Wing
Director
The Love of the Flag
Director
Hearts Unknown
Director
The Woman Behind the Man
Director
Burstup Homes
Director
Outwitted by Horse and Lariat
Director
The Fight in the Dark
Director
Someone's Luck Society
Director
The Scarlet Woman
Director, Producer
The Equine Spy
Producer
Imitation of Waves - Guy's Visions
Cinematography
Tango
Director
Alice Guy Films a 'Phonoscène' in the Studio at Buttes-Chaumont, Paris
Director
Token of Love
Director
A Solax Celebration
Director
The Glue
Director
Fantastic Flowers
Director
The Fur Hat
Director
The Cleaning Man
Director
The Rolling Bed
Director
The Irresistible Piano
Director
The Dirigible 'Homeland'
Director
Barbara Frietchie
Producer
On the Barricade
Director