La Fée aux Choux (1896)

Original title

La fée aux choux

Directed by

Alice Guy-Blaché

Genre

fantasy film, silent film

Country

France

Runtime

1 min

Rating

5.2 of 10 from 98 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This is a very early silent short film from 1896 about a fairy who makes babies appear from cabbages. It was the first film ever directed by a woman, Alice Guy-Blaché, and the original version is now lost.

playfulwhimsicallightheartedhistoricalsimplegentlecuriousnostalgic

What happens

The 1896 version of La Fée aux Choux (The Fairy of the Cabbages) is a lost short fantasy film directed by Alice Guy-Blaché (then known as Alice Guy) that, according to her, featured a honeymoon couple, a farmer, pictures of babies glued to cardboard, and one live baby. The 1900 La Fée aux Choux and the 1902 Sage-Femme de Première Classe (originally titled La Fée aux Choux) are frequently confused with the original lost film, which is the first film directed by a woman. Alice Guy-Blaché reported that she had to remake the film at least twice and this accounts for the two films dated 1900 and 1902 that are available to view online. Guy-Blaché's 1900 version employed one actress (the fairy), two live babies, and a number of dolls. Her 1902 version, later retitled Sage-femme de première classe (Midwife First Class), employed a honeymoon couple and a female baby merchant along with numerous babies and dolls. In a still photograph from the 1902 version, Guy-Blaché appears, wearing a "costume of Normandy". She does not play the husband in the film, but said that she "for fun" pulled on the peasant clothes for the photograph. In the evidence that has been coming in piecemeal for over a century, there are multiple points of confirmation that there were three La Fée aux Choux and that the first was filmed in the spring and early summer of 1896. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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