Alice Guy-Blaché Shorts

[donnie]

In honor of the July banner, courtesy of Betty Lou, I thought it would be nice to have a thread featuring some of the director’s shorts. You will watch and comment on some of them, won't you?

I'll start with this one featured in the banner, which I hadn't previously been aware of, A Fool and His Money (1912), probably the first to have an entirely African-American cast.

This is a pretty well-made and well-acted comedy The print is well-preserved and unusually sharp for 1912. Although more free from rascist stereotyping than one might expect, given the time, alas, it does turn up—only however in language on the note written by the main character (ouch).

On the characters: Lindy, though pretty and charming, has to take the prize for fickleness. And I felt sorry for Sam, despite his dishonest shenanigans. Plotwise, I rather lost track of exactly what was happening at the social gathering from about 7:40-8:40.

Here it is, if you’d like to take a look, with a nice score:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm2-eSvnyxg

[donnie]

A nice portrait of AGB.

[BettyLouSpence]

Just watched A Fool and His Money. What a crisp print! I wonder who the actress is who plays Lindy.

The scene where Sam is buying the car is one of my favorites. I just don't know what it is about natural lighting streaming through windows in a silent film, but it never fails to transport me straight to the era.

[donnie]

I just don't know what it is about natural lighting streaming through windows in a silent film, but it never fails to transport me straight to the era.

Yes! There's something magical about it. I don't understand, either, what it is about that effect that gives a scene such being-there verisimilitude.

[donnie]

Here is one of my very favorite AGB shorts. I don't know why I find it so fascinating, but I've watched it countless times since I found it years ago. Maybe it's because it has so much of the feel of being transported back into the milieu of the Victorian melodrama. And here it is with an excellent piano score by Ben Model.

Do you like it? I'd like to hear your thoughts!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_cYhqVblLc

[donnie]

From Moving Picture World: "Solax Night on Broadway" at the Weber Theatre, May 18, 1912.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to go back and attend?

And so this picture is called The Sewer—? Hmm.

[Kitty]

Interesting, it's a 2 reel short called The Sewer (1912).

IMDb says that it survives in fragmented form in the Library of Congress.

[donnie]

Interesting, it's a 2 reel short called The Sewer (1912).

IMDb says that it survives in fragmented form in the Library of Congress.

Wow, IMDb has quite a detailed plot summary. I still wonder why they chose that name.

Looking again at this photo, I notice that the white banners with "Solax Night" and "Roaring Solax Comedy" don't look exactly natural, as if they are pasted onto the photo. Do they look that way to you? The font in the bottom one, especially doesn't look likely. But on looking more closely, they are part of the scene—at least the top one is obvious.

[Kitty]

Wow, IMDb has quite a detailed plot summary. I still wonder why they chose that name.

Moving picture world is a real treasure. They always went into super detail in their reviews.

Looking again at this photo, I notice that the white banners with "Solax Night" and "Roaring Solax Comedy" don't look exactly natural, as if they are pasted onto the photo. Do they look that way to you? The font in the bottom one, especially doesn't look likely. But on looking more closely, they are part of the scene—at least the top one is obvious.

I definitely see what you're talking about, but I think it's a 3D style they were using that's hard to figure out from our view.