Directed by Marie-Louise Iribe • 1931 • France
Starring Mary Costes, Joë Hamman, Otto Gebühr
This early sound drama was Iribe’s second directorial effort and uses cinematic techniques to visualize Goethe’s 1782 ballad “Erlkönig” and Schubert’s later musical adaptation. Produced by Iribe’s Les Artistes Réunis, this story of the evil Erl King and his fairies who follow a father and his sick son speaks to film’s power to externalize what literary and musical models cannot.
Up Next in Early Women Filmmakers: An International Anthology
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The Woman Condemned
Directed by Dorothy Davenport • 1934 • United States
Starring Claudia Dell, Lola Lane, Richard HemingwayWhen a radio star (Lola Lane) is murdered, a mysterious young woman (Claudia Dell) is accused of the crime. Can a wisecracking reporter (Richard Hemingway), who finds himself captivated by th...
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Miss Dundee and Her Performing Dogs
Directed by Alice Guy Blaché • 1902 • France
Typical of Gaumont’s output at the time and an example of cinema’s early presentational style, this humorous “demonstration” film showcases a vaudeville act featuring a Miss Dundee and her trained performing dogs.
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A Story Well Spun
Directed by Alice Guy Blaché • 1906 • France
In this pun-titled Gaumont comedy, a man rests in a barrel that gets pushed down a hill. The ensuing short is an advanced study on cinematic space and captures the continuity of motion as the rolling barrel moves from location to location, violently h...
