Be wonderful… Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché (2018), BFI preview with Pamela B Green and Cosima Littlewood

"What kept me going was Alice herself, but also the people surrounding the film…because they wanted Alice’s story told.” Pamela B Green

Watching this documentary it’s difficult not to get more than a little angry on behalf of Alice Guy-Blaché, a woman robbed for so long of recognition as the probable creator of narrative film-making let alone her position as the first woman film-maker in 1896. Various modern directors are asked about her, and almost all including Patty Jenkins, Julie Delphy, Ava DuVernay and even Geena Davis, had either not heard of her or been aware of what she achieved.

Understandably Pamela B Green has been a woman on a mission for the decade it has taken to bring this documentary to fruition and by helping to right an historical wrong dating back to the birth of film, the real triumph may well be as one audience member suggested, that her family now know that Alice is getting the credit she deserves.

Alice Guy-Blaché made something like 1000 films including 150 with synchronised sound during the first three decades of film. Of these over 150 have now been recovered and are starting to take their place in screenings and on digital releases such as the box sets from Kino-Lorber, BFI and Lobster Films. AG-B along with the great Lois Webber and others are being returned to rightful prominence and on merit, with their films the equal of anyone from this period.

Probably Alice Guy...

Along the way Green enlisted the help of some very heavy friends, notably Jodie Foster who narrated, co-produced and even gave us a recorded message before screening. Then there’s executive producers including a fella called Robert Redford and the late publisher Hugh Hefner who was one of the biggest investors. It’s also worth noting that the film was based on Alison McMahan’s ground-breaking book, Alice Guy-Blaché, Lost Visionary of the Cinema (2002) and the author was another collaborator on the film. British silent film historians, Kevin Brownlow and Anthony Slide, also pop up as "Friends of Alice"; she's not an unkown quantity for those in the know but clearly there is work to be done on her place in film studies.

As with the development of early films, collaboration has been key – “it takes a village” as Green says - but, unlike the films of Alice Guy, credit was due but withheld and even today Gaumont will not be releasing the home video version of this film. You want the truth, perhaps they can’t handle the truth which is rather shameful and beyond petty. But, as Green as said in the Q&A, history is usually defined by the dominant voices and perhaps Alice didn’t rate herself ahead of others such as Louis Feuillard or Georges Méliès

Chance also plays as part with founder Léon Gaumont passing away in 1946, before the second edition of the company’s history that would have included more credit for his former secretary.

Alice Guy famously started out as Léon Gaumont’s secretary and he gave her the chance to create films with a story narrative as well as hand-tinted colour and synchronised sound. These innovations were extraordinary at the time and the only extraordinary thing about a woman directing them is the simple fact that she was not given the credit more widely then or for the majority of her life.

She was probably the only woman directing films for the first decade of cinema and was certainly recognised as a talented, bankable film maker in France and then later in the USA where she not only established her own studio, Solax, but also built her studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey. She married British cameraman Herbert Blaché in 1907 and they had two children including daughter Simone – born 1908 - who is featured in filmed interviews. Alice returned to France in 1922 and divorced Herbert Blaché severing her ties with the film industry for good too.

The film follows her progress which becomes that of Simone as she accompanies her around the world, Simone was married to a diplomat, and eventually attempts to find her films and re-establish her place.

The film then becomes a fascinating procedural investigation, as not only films but footage of interviews is found and a clearer picture is formed. This may not be the first Guy-Blaché documentary, as Jay Weissberg observed in his Variety review, but it is certainly the first to build on those earlier efforts and to reach a wider audience. It has also been a living exercise in recovery – both of reputation and, not unconnectedly, materials; the films found during the period of the research are now being digitised and shown more widely. That in itself is the main thing that will continue to uplift the reputation of this key figure.

After the Q&A we were treated to a screening of Matrimony's Speed Limit (1913) a charming short from Solax about a young man who just has to get married at short notice in order to gain his fortune, It’s as funny as any Sennett film form the period and much more of a laugh than one of DW Griffith’s. For further proof, c.f. The Consequences of Feminism (1906) which even impressed Sergei Eisenstein.

Martin Scorsese describes Alice as an extraordinary and sensitive filmmaker and as more of her films are found and shown, lets hope for a fuller appreciation of her skill and not just the uniqueness of her contribution.

Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché (2018) is on release from 18^th January – full details will be on the BFI site as well as the film's own. Not to be missed even if, as Pamela said in the Q&A, they’re standing on the shoulders of the many researchers who went before.

It’s a very well-made film which catches the excitement of the filmmakers’ journey and does surprise and entertain even for those familiar with the subject. Let’s hope there’s more to be found,

Here’s to Alice Guy and her family!