Subtitled ‘Women’s Writing on the First Fifty Years of Cinema’, this compendium of articles from newspapers, parenting magazines and literary journals published between 1895 and 1950 reveals the great influence women had on cinema in its early days – as patrons, actresses, directors and critics.
Organised thematically into five sections, each introduced by a scholarly essay explaining the social and historical context, the published opinions are as diverse as the women who produced them, ranging from gossipy, highbrow to ‘auto-interview’ and even poetry. But for those who expect an exceptionally feminist celebration of female ‘filmitis’, it is not all universal sisterhood. So in between some excellent pieces of women’s writing on film and its reception, we have to learn that it is ‘pathetically obvious that women can’t produce films’. But then we also gain the invaluable wisdom that men approach art with the mind of a ‘prurient greengrocer’.
