At the turn of the century, cinema pioneer Alice Guy-Blaché became the one of the world's first film-makers. Yet, 50 years ago today, with 1,000 films to her name, she died in obscurity.
To think of the early days of film is to imagine whisky-swilling, male studio heads in expensive suits, wielding more power than many state leaders. By the mid-Twenties, the Big Five (made up of 20th Century Fox, RKO Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) had become cinema’s domineering leaders.
It's certainly a point that's drummed home in Ryan Murphy's recent biographical miniseries Feud: Bette and Joan. "You know how much power women had back then? Exactly as much as we got now:...