Three American Female Filmmakers Who Changed Hollywood

Hollywood is a notoriously difficult place for filmmakers to succeed, due to the aggressive competition. It is even ore difficult for women filmmakers.

In spite of such challenges, there have been many gifted female filmmakers, past and present, who made impressive contributions to the world of American cinema.

Three of them are:

Lois Weber

Born in 1881 in Pennsylvania, Lois Weber was one of American cinema's earliest female film directors.

As a teenager, she had been a concert pianist, but ran off on her own to New York, after a disagreement with her parents. Deeply religious, she preached the Gospel from street corners, before deciding to go into theater. After wedding Phillip Smalley,she gave up her acting career to be a traditional homemaker. In spite of her personal beliefs in the sanctity of her role as a conventional wife, Weber got involved with the film industry, believing it would be a viable tool for converting people to Christiaity. She and her spouse took over the film company originally headed by Edwin S. Porter, known for directing The Great TrainRobbery.

Weber not only directed films, but wrote the scripts, did the film editing, acted in them and everything else that involved a "hands-on" approach. The movies she made were considered pretty racy, by the moral standards of the day, since they addressed delicate issues, such as abortion, drug addiction and social and religious hypocrisy. While her critics were appalled at the themes of her films, audiences were enthralled by them and Weber' became a popular and highly paid director.

Some of her films were Hop, the Devil's Brew, Hypocrites, The Blot, The Marriage Clause, Where Are My Children? and Two WiseWives.

Success was short-lived, however, and by the 1920's, both her marriage and career fell apart. Her one attempt to make a "talkie" failed miserably and her past glory was lost.

Louise Weber died on November 13, 1939 and has been long forgotten by all except dedicated film historians.

Dorothy Arzner

Like Lois Weber, Dorothy Arzner started out directing silent movies. Fortunately, her career was more successful..

Born in 1897 in California, she grew up seeing a number of silent movie stars, who were patrons of her parents' cafe, where she worked for awhile, as a waitress. She later went to USC to study medicine, but stopped to become an ambulance driver in Europe during the first World War. After the war ended, she was inspired to become a film director.

Arzner gradually moved up in the ranks, as she gained experience as a film cutter, editor and writer. You can see an example of her editing work in the silent version of Blood and Sand. While her editing work opened more doors for her, Arzner continued to pen scripts and she eventually demanded that the reluctant Paramount Pictures, for which she worked, allow her to direct a movie. Not wishing to lose one of the best editors and writers in the business, they agreed and her days as a film director began.

The silent films Dorothy Arzner directed were Ten Modern Commandments, Fashions for Women and Get Your Man. Her first "talkie" was Manhattan Cocktail and it was groundbreaking, in that it was the very first sound motion picture ever directed by a woman. Her movies after that time include The Wild Party, Sarah and Son, Anybody'sWoman, Christopher Strong, Working Girls, Merrily We Go to Hell, Craig's Wife,TheThe Bride Wore Red and First Comes Courage.

e a part of The Directors Guild of America.

She left film directing for the major studios in the early 1940's and eventually taught directing and screenwriting at UCLA, where one of her students was Francis Ford Coppola, who would himself go on to become a great director.

Arzner managed, in all those years, to keep her lesbian lifestyle discreetly hArzner

She died in 1979.

Allison Anders

Alison Anders is currently a director of independent films. Her films include Gas- Food- Lodging, Grace of My Heart, Border Radio, MiVida Loca, and Things Behind the Sun. She has received much critical acclaiMiVida Locaork. Anders generally writes many of her screenplays or partners with writer/director Kurt Voss

Born in Ashland, Kentucky in 1954, Anders seemed to exhibit a rebelliouVossreak, even Ashlandung girl, which got her into considerable trouble on some occasions. This attitude was probably due to her unstable upbringing, with an absent father and nomadic-type mother. Young Alison was also sexually abused. Still, the very sense of individualism these difficult experiences produced may have been what drove her to become an independent filmmaker. Anders was granted a fellowship to attend UCLA's prestigious film school, where she first met Voss, going on to work with him professionally, after graduation.. She additioVossy obtained a MacArthur Fellow "genius" grant.

Allison Anders has also done television, directing episodes for Men in Trees, Sex and the City and other shows.

Awards she has won or been nominated for, over the course of her career, include the New York Film Critics Circle Award, the Golden Berlin Bear Award, the Independent Spirit Award, the NYFCC Award, the Golden Spike Award and the Copper Wing Tribute Award.

Hopefully, her success will continue and she will help lead the way for many other women to get involved behind the camera in the film industry.