Lois Weber (1879 - 1939) was a true American auteur on par with D. W. Griffith. A director, actress, screenwriter, and producer of mostly silent films, she was the first American woman to direct a full-length feature film (1914's The Merchant of Venice), the first American woman director to own her own film studio, and one of the first film directors to experiment with sound. Weber pioneered the split-screen technique in the 1913 short film Suspense, and Hypocrites featured the first non-pornographic full-frontal female nude scene in 1915. Many of her films tackled social issues like abortion, poverty, discrimination, and religion, drawing the attention of censors.
Only a fraction of her films, estimated to number between 200 and 400, were preserved. In 2022, the American Film Institute announced a new initiative titled "Behind the Veil," after one of Weber's lost films. The initiative "will document 6,000 short films from the silent and early sound eras to uncover the innovative contributions of female and BIPOC storytellers."
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The story of St. Gabriel, who was killed by an ignorant mob for making a nude statue representing Pu...
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Walton, the District Attorney, yearns to have children. Soon after defending an author on trial for ...
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Fenella, a poor Italian girl, falls in love with a Spanish nobleman, but their affair triggers a rev...
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A female ape takes to mothering the orphaned boy (Tarzan) and raises him over the course of many yea...
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After inventing an automobile attachment that makes him rich, Frank Boyd marries his childhood sweet...
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The prohibition is in full swing and Egypt Hagen, a new woman, is the constant subject of controvers...
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Recent movies
| # | Name | Character | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sensation Seekers (1927) | Director / Writer | 5 | |
| 2 | What Do Men Want? (1921) | Director / Writer | 5 | |
| 3 | The Blot (1921) | Director / Writer | 5 | |
| 4 | Tarzan of the Apes (1918) | Director / Writer | 5 | |
| 5 | Where Are My Children? (1916) | Director / Writer | 3 | |
| 6 | The Dumb Girl of Portici (1916) | Director / Writer | 5 | |
| 7 | Shoes (1916) | Director / Writer | 4 | |
| 8 | Hypocrites (1915) | Director / Writer | 5 | |
| 9 | Suspense. (1913) | Director / Writer | 3 |
