Les feuilles chéant

One of the most celebrated of Alice Guy's Solax films, "Falling Leaves" is a remarkably moving and sweet short, based as it is in a child's naiveté in trying to save her older sister from dying from tuberculosis. The business of her tying falling leaves back to tree branches, to prevent the prediction she overhears from a doctor that her sister will be dead when the last leaf falls, also reminds me of another early film to feature moving foliage and a character called "baby," as the child here is nicknamed. That film, the Lumière brothers' "Le Repas de Bébé" (1895) is usually remarked upon for its windswept background as it is for being a prototypical home movie. Moving pictures in two senses of the words. "Falling Leaves" adds a third, metaphorical sense in its melodramatic appeal. Moreover, the baby here attempts to arrest that movement, the passage of space and time. Odd thing is, she succeeds. Although Hollywood wasn't the center of the filmmaking world yet, evidently Hollywood endings were already becoming a thing.

I've seen this one a couple times before, but especially reviewed it again now because it's also an early film to deal with medical care and a contagious disease. Besides D.W. Griffith's "A Country Doctor" (1909), I'm not aware of much earlier than this. Reviewing both back to back, a comparison is in some ways telling. Both are cleverly framed: Griffith's film cinematographically by bucolic panning shots and Guy's plot, reportedly, follows that of a popular song of the day, "The Consumptive Girl or Baby's Secret." Appropriately, then, the girl's illness in the film is announced by her piano playing being interrupted by a coughing fit. Both films feature a good amount of crosscutting, too. While Griffith's is more for excitement, Guy employs it for a bifurcated narrative that in the end will combine. Technically, there's also some nice tinting effects, including for day-for-night shooting, in the surviving prints of this one, and at least one shot features strong low-key lighting. We still get the tableau style of title cards announcing proceeding action, but the simplicity of the story and the complicating of the plot with the parallel narratives helps to overcome that.

Perhaps, most remarkable, however, is that Guy's film focuses on the domestic sphere for the affect of illness, as opposed to the professional priority of Griffith's gaze on the actions of the doctor. Guy wasn't only the first female filmmaker; she was a filmmaker who provided an entirely unique perspective--all the more valuable as it was amid a male-dominated profession. Although one of the most effective, "Falling Leaves" is hardly her only film to privilege the perspectives of women and children. Such a viewpoint entirely alters the trajectory of such a picture; while Griffith's is oriented towards action, Guy's sympathies are with the family's coping. The family's doctor is a minor character, and the other one is, too, for most of the scenes. Nature, though, remains a prominent feature in both, and the pretty landscapes are tied with movement as well as serving as stark contrast to the heinous diseases inside.

This film begins with Dr. Headley showing off his success at treating tuberculosis (in this film called by the old term 'consumption')--a serious epidemic in the early 20th century throughout the world. Then rather abruptly, it switches to a dramatization of a tuberculosis victim. However, instead of realistically portraying its effects, the actress goes from seemingly normal to grandiose spasms in a matter of seconds. The mother shows great concern, while the youngest child (Trixie) just seems kind of lost--wandering about the frame. When the doctor comes out after examining the young lady, he waxes poetical and talks about falling leaves--more like he's delivering a speech than a real doctor.

Fortunately for the sick girl, Trixie snaps out of her useless wandering about and decides to take action (even though she looks to be only about 6 years-old). She sneaks out of the house at night and locates Dr. Headley who then agrees to treat her older sister. Then, with the aid of Headley's serum, the girl is cured and lives happily ever after.

Overall, while the film has obvious dramatic flaws, it is very good for a 1912 film. Had it been made just a few years later, it would have been seen as very old fashioned. BUT, in 1912 ALL films were old fashioned and dated. So, relatively speaking, it's a very good film. Seen today, it is more an interesting curio.

Dr. Earl Headley has found a wonderful serum for the cure of consumption, a terrible disease that struck people at the beginning of the last century ( fortunately we, the aristocrats, don't have those diseases; we only suffer gout or delirium tremens ). Youngster Winifred, has many serious problems; not only does she have to wear a ribbon bigger than her head, she also has consumption. The family doctor, tells her mother and father that the poor little girl will pass away "when the last leaf falls". Little Trixie, Winifred's young sister, hears the terrible news and in order to save her sister, she ties together the leaves in the family garden trying to keep her sister from dying. It is in this fateful garden, where little Trixie meets accidentally Dr. Earl Headley and this encounter leads to the doctor giving his wonderful serum to Winifred and saving her life. Three months later, Winifred is completely cured and this German Count hopes that the first medical practitioner, the family doctor, was fired for his incompetence.

"Falling Leaves" was directed by Dame Alice Guy, also known as Alice Guy-Blaché, a pioneer film director in many aspects. She was French ( not a remarkable fact, at all ) and the world's first woman director, and was very prolific and even experimented with sound in several of her early films. She worked in France and USA, where she formed the production company that made this film. "Falling Leaves" is a good example of those early films for which Dame Alice Guy was known. It's a one-reel production that depicts a simple story with a static camera but in an effective way ( the garden sequence has a special oneiric atmosphere ). The actors play their roles with extravagant gestures but the only thing that really matters in this one-reel production was the message not the messengers.

Early cinema was male dominated, as it is now. There was one exception, however. Alice Guy-Blache, co-owner of Solax Studios and the first director to create a plot to a movie (1896--The Cabbage Fairy). In 1910, her and her husband, along with a third partner, formed the Solax film production studio in Ft. Lee, N. J. She was the primary director at the company.

Her work stood apart from her male directing colleagues in the industry for her sensitivity and compassion. In March 1912 "Falling Leaves," her look at tuberculosis is a tear jerker. A common theme as seen in the example in "Falling Leaves," Guy-Blache's films are replete with child heroes--after all, the doctor wouldn't have stopped at the house if the kid wasn't hanging leaves outside on the trees. Her first film for Solax was 1910's "A Child's Sacrifice." During her career Guy-Blache wrote, directed or produced over 1,000 films, from shorts to feature films. Her movie-making days ended in 1920 when she was only 41 years old. But she was still active in writing her autobiography in the late 1940's.

Her motto hanging on her wall at Ft. Lee, N. J. Solax Studio for all the actors to see was "Act Natural."

This worthwhile and often moving melodrama deals with what at the time was a very topical concern, dramatizing the effects of tuberculosis and the hope of a cure for it. The story is slightly over-optimistic, in that it implies more than was true at the time about what could be done for afflicted patients, but as a story it is well-crafted, and it is quite effective, in addition to obviously being well-meaning.

The main characters are two sisters, one of whom has tuberculosis, their parents, and the doctors who attend the sick girl. The nicely-chosen title "Falling Leaves" comes from a touching misunderstanding of the younger sister when she hears a doctor's gloomy prognosis for her beloved sister. Her innocent misconception drives the plot and makes her a very sympathetic character.

Given the somber nature of the material, the characters are quite believable, and are played with sensitivity yet without any excess emoting. The two daughters and their mother are particularly endearing characters. The story, likewise, is told with good pacing. This is one of director Alice Guy Blaché's best surviving movies, and her naturalistic approach works quite well in this story. It's easily one of the better features of its genre and era.