Dorothy Arzner  (1900 - 1979)

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 Christopher Strong directed by Dorothy Arzner.

One of the few female directors of her time, Arzner brings an enchanting perspective to this capable romantic drama with Katharine Hepburn in her element as an aviatrix in romantic and professional conflict. Colin Clive is one of the reasons for both. Billie Burke, who portrayed Hepburn's mother in A Bill of Divorcement, also stars.

Craig's Wife directed by Dorothy Arzner.

Lesbian filmmaker Arzner's tale of domestic bliss gone berzerk features Rosalind Russell as a selfish, materialistic wife whose maniacal, all-consuming obsession with her home and the social details that go with it ruins her marriage.

Arzner, Dorothy (1900-1979)

FILM DIRECTOR

Arzner grew up in Hollywood and worked as a waitperson, World War I ambulance driver, studied medicine and worked at a newspaper before landing a job at a movie studio. In three years Arzner went from being a stenographer to a script clerk to a film editor. It was her work as a film editor that helped convince Paramount to hire her as the director of Fashions for Women in 1927; two years later she would be asked to direct the studio's first talking motion picture, The Wild Party in 1929.

While Arzner was not the only woman director in Hollywood at this time, she is considered the most successful. Early feminist film critics downplayed her lesbianism, but in the late 1980s she was held up as a lesbian visionary. It was surmised by Hollywood insiders that her overt lesbianism, indicated to others at the time by her wearing of suits and ties and a short haircut, gained her acceptance in a field dominated by men.

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Names Index:
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