TUESDAY, MARCH 24 @  8:00 PM and 12:00 AM (ET) 

Film history had a missing chapter added last spring with the New York Film Festival premiere of Pamela Green’s seminal documentary Be Natural:The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché. And tonight at 8:00, and again at midnight, TCM will be screening this film for the first time. In between, and for the rest of the evening, we’ll have a chance to view some of her major films. Guy-Blaché was among the very first true “film makers” – artists who saw the potential of the camera as a story-telling device rather than as simply a passive recording device. The film is narrated by Jodie Foster, who also has an executive producer credit.

Alice Guy-Blaché (then Alice Guy) was there from the beginning. She was hired as a secretary at the fledgling French film company Gaumont in 1894. She was present when the Lumiere brothers debuted their cinematographe movie projector at a private event in 1895. By 1896 she was head of production at Gaumont – writing, producing and directing

dozens of films. Her first film, La Fée aux Choux (The Cabbage Fairy) in 1896, was arguably the world’s first narrative film. Alice Guy married Herbert Blaché in 1907 and moved to the United States when he was named production manager for Gaumont’s  U.S.A. operations. In 1910, they founded The Solax Company, which became a major pre-Hollywood production source. But you’d never know it from a look at the history books. Tune in tonight for the whole story.

COMING SOON TO CLASSICFLIXMIX.COM: See the early films in the ALICE GUY-BLACHÉ Gallery

 

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