Florence Lois Weber (June 13, 1879 â€" November 13, 1939) was an
American silent film actress, screenwriter, producer and director. She
is identified in some historical references as "the most important
female director the American film industry has known", and among "the
most important and prolific film directors in the era of silent
films". Film historian Anthony Slide has also asserted, "Along with D.
W. Griffith, Weber was the American cinema's first genuine auteur, a
filmmaker involved in all aspects of production and one who utilized
the motion picture to put across her own ideas and philosophies".Weber
produced a body of work which has been compared to Griffith's in both
quantity and quality and brought to the screen her concerns for
humanity and social justice in an estimated 200 to 400 films, of which
as few as twenty have been preserved. She has been credited by IMDb
with directing 135 films, writing 114, and acting in 100. Weber was
"one of the first directors to come to the attention of the censors in
Hollywood's early years".Weber has been credited with pioneering the
use of the split screen technique to show simultaneous action in her
1913 film Suspense. In collaboration with her first husband, Phillips
Smalley, in 1913 Weber was "one of the first directors to experiment
with sound", making the first sound films in the United States. She
was also the first American woman to direct a full-length feature film
when she and Smalley directed The Merchant of Venice in 1914, and in
1917 the first American woman director to own her own film studio.
American silent film actress, screenwriter, producer and director. She
is identified in some historical references as "the most important
female director the American film industry has known", and among "the
most important and prolific film directors in the era of silent
films". Film historian Anthony Slide has also asserted, "Along with D.
W. Griffith, Weber was the American cinema's first genuine auteur, a
filmmaker involved in all aspects of production and one who utilized
the motion picture to put across her own ideas and philosophies".Weber
produced a body of work which has been compared to Griffith's in both
quantity and quality and brought to the screen her concerns for
humanity and social justice in an estimated 200 to 400 films, of which
as few as twenty have been preserved. She has been credited by IMDb
with directing 135 films, writing 114, and acting in 100. Weber was
"one of the first directors to come to the attention of the censors in
Hollywood's early years".Weber has been credited with pioneering the
use of the split screen technique to show simultaneous action in her
1913 film Suspense. In collaboration with her first husband, Phillips
Smalley, in 1913 Weber was "one of the first directors to experiment
with sound", making the first sound films in the United States. She
was also the first American woman to direct a full-length feature film
when she and Smalley directed The Merchant of Venice in 1914, and in
1917 the first American woman director to own her own film studio.
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