Additional Information

1. Dorothy Arzner, born on January 3, 1900, in San Francisco, California, is one of
2. the most significant early movie directors. She was the only woman director in
3. Hollywood during the 1930's and 1940's. The theme of her movies centered
4. mostly around women's issues prevalent at the time. She strongly favored an
5. unstereotyped role for women. For instance, in Christopher Strong , produced
6. in 1933, she portrayed Amy Johnson, who was a pilot. She not only resented
7. seeing women as amorists and followers, but wanted them to have dynamic
8. aspirations and powerful characteristics. Her most productive years in feature
9. films (1927-1942) have intrigued a great number of feminist critics.
10. She started her directing career at the bottom of the ladder. In order to become
11. acquainted with all the areas of the movie industry, she held her first job as a
12. script typist and edited movies. Her editing talent in the film Blood and Sand
13. featuring Rudolph Valentino caught James Cruze's attention. Later, she was
14. promoted to a screenplay writer. Her directing career at Paramount did not
15. start until after her work on the film The Covered Wagon (1923) by James
16. Cruze.
17. After leaving Paramount, from 1930 to 1943, she directed movies
18. independently. Some well-known actresses she worked with are Katherine
19. Hepburn and Joan Crawford. One of her best films Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)
20. exemplifies the characteristics of fame and the possibilities of exploitation of
21. sexual representations. Her innovative methods in film-splicing and editing
22. for silent movies won her acclaim. Because of failing health and a disinterest
23. in the shallow world of Hollywood, she retired. Her successful career as a
24. director includes 17 movies, most of which were box-office hits.