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Lois Weber: The Director Who Lost Her Way in History (Contributions to the Study of Popular Culture)

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This slender book provides us the basics of the life of Lois Weber, one of a remarkable group of women pioneers active in silent cinema. Before the establishment of the studio system in the Twenties, women directors figured prominently, writing and producing literally thousands of films. Miss Weber was a giant among them, reknowned for her subject matter, which ranged from controversial social issues including birth control and abortion, ('Where are My Children' ~ 1916), to religious hypocrisy, ('The Hypocrites' ~ 1915), and intellectual domestic drama, ('Discontent' ~ 1916, 'The Blot' ~ 1921). Miss Weber brought to her films much of her own background, including that of a stint as a street corner evangelist singing hymns in the slums of New York and Pittsburgh, and her up-and-down marriage to Phillips Smalley, which appeared a great driving force and sustenance to her until their divorce, from which she never quite fully recovered. Miss Weber approached filmmaking as one might a platform, expressing 'a great desire to convert [her] fellow men' to her way of viewing and questioning the world around her. Miss Weber prefered to use real locations over sets, and strove to provide her viewers a sense of compelling realism, down to the smallest of details. Her singular attention and careful craftsmanship earned her great respect among her contemporaries, and much critical acclaim. Works such a 'Hypocrites' and 'The Blot' retain the power to move audiences of today. It is high time Lois Weber is rediscovered, and her existing films made more readily available.