Directed by Dorothy Arzner (Women Artists in Film) by Judith Mayne
Dorothy Arzner was the exception in Hollywood film history?the one woman who succeeded as a director, in a career that spanned three decades. In Part One, Dorothy Arzner's film career?her work as a film editor to her directorial debut, to her departure from Hollywood in 1943?is documented, with particular attention to Arzner's roles as star-maker and woman's director. In Part Two, Mayne analyzes a number of Arzner's films and discusses how feminist preoccupations shape them, from the women's communities central to Dance, Girl, Dance and The Wild Party to critiques of the heterosexual couple in Christopher Strong and Craig's Wife. Part Three treats Arzner's lesbianism and the role that desire between women played in her career, her life, and her films. Editorial Reviews From Publishers Weekly The subject of close scrutiny by feminist film theorists for the past two decades, Arzner is arguably the most important woman film director in Hollywood history. From The Wild Party, starring Clara Bow in her first sound film, to Dance, Girl, Dance, with Lucille Ball, Arzner earned a reputation as a ``star-maker.'' Mayne (The Woman at the Keyhole) here reviews Arzner's 16-year directing career, offering a feminist reading of her films that emphasizes their preoccupation with communities of women and the ``performance'' of gender, as well as their questioning of heterosexuality. Mayne also delves into Arzner's biography for evidence of how her identity as a lesbian affected her work, and her research into Arzner's personal life reveals a moving picture of her ``unspeakable'' yet long and devoted partnership with choreographer Marion Morgan. Mayne's prose is revitalized whenever she turns to Arzner's life in and out of Hollywood, her reception by the press or her relationships with key artists such as George Cukor. Chapters on individual films are less convincing: the detailed plot summaries are tedious, and Mayne's repetition of a few underdeveloped points provoke the unfortunate suspicion that Arzner's material isn't rich enough to withstand such scrutiny. Photos not seen by PW. Copyright 1994 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From the Back Cover This is the first full-length study of the woman who has always been the exception in Hollywood film history-the one woman who succeeded as a director, in a career that spanned three decades. From the Back Cover This is the first full-length study of the woman who has always been the exception in Hollywood film history-the one woman who succeeded as a director, in a career that spanned three decades. About the Author JUDITH MAYNE, Professor of French and Women's Studies at Ohio State University, is the author of Cinema and Spectatorship, The Woman at the Keyhole, Kino and the Woman Question: Feminism and Soviet Silent Film, and Private Novels, Public Films.
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Binding: Paperback
Published by: Indiana University Press: , 1995
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ISBN: 9780253208965 | 0253208963
209 pages.
Book Condition: Good
Front cover de-laminating
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