Directed by Alice Guy Blaché • 1907 • France
This historical drama, which depicts a young boy caught by accident in revolutionary conflict, is notable for its unceremonious depiction of a firing squad in action. Remarkable for its confident use of the full frame, it anticipates director Alice Guy Blaché’s later films made in the United States.
Up Next in Early Women Filmmakers: An International Anthology
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Falling Leaves
Directed by Alice Guy Blaché • 1912 • United States
Starring Magda Foy, Marian Swayne, Mace GreenleafThis family melodrama echoes aspects of O. Henry’s 1907 short story “The Last Leaf” and depicts the clever attempts of a concerned young girl trying to save her older sister, who is dying of con...
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Making an American Citizen
Directed by Alice Guy Blaché • 1912 • United States
Starring Lee Beggs, Blanche CornwallAlice Guy Blaché depicts the pressures to assimilate faced by immigrants in this tale of an Eastern European couple who come to the United States, where the husband learns four lessons in “Americanism.”
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The Girl in the Armchair
Directed by Alice Guy Blaché • 1912 • United States
Starring Blanche Cornwall, Mace GreenleafThis drama about a gambling addict and the woman who loves him reveals Alice Guy Blaché to be a master of cinematic space as she skillfully stages action in the foreground and background of the frame an...