SURPRISE D’UNE MAISON AU PETIT JOUR. EPISODE DE LA GUERRE DE 1870

Rights Information
Year
1898
Reference
F20649
Media type
Moving image
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Rights Information
Year
1898
Reference
F20649
Media type
Moving image
Place of production
France
Categories
Short
Duration
0:00:56
Production company
gaumont
Credits
Director: Alice Guy-Blaché

Soldiers arriving at a house protected by a man with a cannon. A battle between the two parties ensues, resulting in a number of deaths.

Alice Guy-Blaché (1875-1968) was the first woman film director and arguably the first director of a narrative film with her 1896 production LA FEE AUX CHOUX.

She directed and produced over 300 films in her life time, initially as studio head of Gaumont in Paris (1896-1906) and later for her own company Solax in the US. She tackled every genre including trick films, using techniques usually only attributed to Georges Méliés.

Blaché returned to France from the US in 1922 after the onslaught of the large Hollywood studios made it difficult for independent studios to make a living. She was without prints of her films and spent much of the rest of her life trying to prove to others what she had done. At the age of 78 she was finally recognised and made a Knight of the French Legion of Honour.