Lois Weber
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."
How Men Propose
(The Maid)
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Spider and Her Web
(Madame DuBarr)
A Heroine of '76
(The Tavern Keeper's Daughter)
Suspense.
(The Wife)
The Pursuit of Hate
(Diana Grave)
Idle Wives
(Anne)
Sherlock Holmes, Jr.
(Mrs. Brown)
Fate
(Flora Brown)
A Japanese Idyll
Fine Feathers
(Mira, the Artist's Model)
Lost Illusions
(Grace - The Wife)
The Rosary
(The Soldier's Sweetheart)
The Price
(Ann)
Alone in the World
Scandal
(Daisy Dean)
On the Brink
(Tess)
Sunshine Molly
(Sunshine Molly)
From Death to Life
(Aratus' Wife)
Lost by a Hair
(Summer Girl)
The Eye of God
(Renie)
Hop - The Devil's Brew
(Lydia Jansen)
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
(Mrs. Broome)
The Merchant of Venice
(Portia)
The Twins
(The Twin Sisters)
The Jew's Christmas
(Leah - Isaac's Daughter)
The Women Who Run Hollywood
(Self (archive footage))
Eyes That See Not
(The Millionaire's Wife)
False Colors
(Mrs. Moore)
Early Directors on Directing
(Self)
The Spider and Her Web
(Director)
The Spider and Her Web
(Scenario Writer)
False Colors
(Director)
False Colors
(Screenplay)
The Pursuit of Hate
(Director)
A Heroine of '76
(Director)
The Dumb Girl of Portici
(Producer)
The Dumb Girl of Portici
(Adaptation)
Tarzan of the Apes
(Writer)
Suspense.
(Director)
Hypocrites
(Director)
Shoes
(Director)
Where Are My Children?
(Director)
The Blot
(Director)
The Dumb Girl of Portici
(Director)
How Men Propose
(Director)
Too Wise Wives
(Director)
Eyes That See Not
(Director)
White Heat
(Writer)
The Angel of Broadway
(Director)
Sensation Seekers
(Director)
Idle Wives
(Director)
Captain Courtesy
(Director)
The Blot
(Writer)
It's No Laughing Matter
(Writer)
It's No Laughing Matter
(Director)
The Marriage Clause
(Writer)
The Marriage Clause
(Director)
White Heat
(Director)
Betty in Search of a Thrill
(Director)
A Cigarette - That's All
(Director)
How Men Propose
(Producer)
Hypocrites
(Producer)
Hypocrites
(Writer)
The Blot
(Producer)
Fate
(Director)
Wanted- A Home
(Producer)
A Japanese Idyll
(Director)
Discontent
(Director)
Fine Feathers
(Director)
Idle Wives
(Writer)
Where Are My Children?
(Producer)
Idle Wives
(Producer)
Idle Wives
(Adaptation)
The Rosary
(Director)
The Merchant of Venice
(Director)
The Merchant of Venice
(Writer)
The Price
(Director)
Shoes
(Producer)
Where Are My Children?
(Writer)
Shoes
(Writer)
Too Wise Wives
(Producer)
Too Wise Wives
(Story)
Too Wise Wives
(Screenplay)
Scandal
(Director)
Sensation Seekers
(Writer)
Scandal
(Writer)
What Do Men Want?
(Director)
What Do Men Want?
(Writer)
A Midnight Romance
(Writer)
A Midnight Romance
(Director)
On the Brink
(Director)
On the Brink
(Story)
The Jew's Christmas
(Director)
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
(Director)
The Troubadour's Triumph
(Director)
Lost by a Hair
(Writer)
Sunshine Molly
(Writer)
From Death to Life
(Director)
Lost by a Hair
(Director)
Sunshine Molly
(Director)
The Picture of Dorian Gray
(Screenplay)
Wanted- A Home
(Story)
The Eye of God
(Scenario Writer)
The Mysterious Mrs. M
(Director)
The Eye of God
(Director)
Even as You and I
(Director)
Saving the Family Name
(Director)
The People vs. John Doe
(Director)
The People vs. John Doe
(Writer)
What's Worth While?
(Producer)
Mary Regan
(Scenario Writer)
A Chapter in Her Life
(Director)
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
(Writer)
The People vs. John Doe
(Producer)
Mary Regan
(Director)
Topsy and Eva
(Adaptation)
What's Worth While?
(Writer)
What's Worth While?
(Director)
Hop - The Devil's Brew
(Scenario Writer)
A Chapter in Her Life
(Adaptation)
Hop - The Devil's Brew
(Director)
For Husbands Only
(Producer)
For Husbands Only
(Director)
For Husbands Only
(Adaptation)
Jewel
(Writer)
Forbidden
(Director)
Forbidden
(Writer)
Home
(Director)
Home
(Writer)
The Price of a Good Time
(Director)
The Price of a Good Time
(Writer)
The Price of a Good Time
(Editor)
The Doctor and the Woman
(Director)
The Doctor and the Woman
(Writer)
The Troubadour's Triumph
(Writer)
The Twins
(Writer)
The Twins
(Director)
The Jew's Christmas
(Writer)
Borrowed Clothes
(Director)
Saving the Family Name
(Writer)
Borrowed Clothes
(Writer)
Discontent
(Writer)
The Price
(Writer)
The Eye of God
(Writer)
The Mysterious Mrs. M
(Writer)
For Husbands Only
(Screenplay)
Mary Regan
(Screenplay)
Suspense.
(Writer)
Topsy and Eva
(Screenplay)
Hop - The Devil's Brew
(Screenplay)
A Chapter in Her Life
(Screenplay)
When a Girl Loves
(Writer)
When a Girl Loves
(Director)
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
(Producer)
To Please One Woman
(Director)
To Please One Woman
(Writer)
John Needham's Double
(Director)
The Flirt
(Writer)
The Flirt
(Director)
The Opened Shutters
(Scenario Writer)