Category: Dorothy Arzner, Pre-Code Cynic

Merrily We Go to Hell’s Dorothy Arzner, the Only Female Director in 1930s Hollywood

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|Ed Dykhuizen| Female directors were commonplace, even at times dominant, in early film history. Alice Guy-Blaché directed more than 450 short films starting in 1896. Many scholars credit her with the first movie that had a narrative. In these earliest years, small companies… Continue reading

Merrily We Go To Hell: “The Holy State Of Matrimony,” Pre-Code Style

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|Lucille Hanson| (The following contains spoilers for Merrily We Go To Hell.) Before writing this for Perisphere, I had seen Merrily only once before: a couple years ago, during a rare day where I watched numerous movies back to back (I cannot believe that I bookended this with Saw VI and Bamboozled.). I ended up leaving… Continue reading