Alice Guy (later Alice Guy-Blaché) is notable for being the first female film director – and, for that matter, one of the first filmmakers of either gender. From 1896 to 1906, she directed dozens of films for Gaumont Studios, and in 1910, along with husband Herbert Blachém, formed the Solax Company in New Jersey, USA. 'Falling Leaves (1912)' is similar to the sort of film that D.W. Griffith might have produced for the Biograph Company at about the same time, and utilises Griffith's characteristic style of melodrama. However, there are several scenes that manage to feel pleasantly naturalistic, despite the static camera-work and editing: Guy reportedly posted a sign on the studio wall, directed towards her actors, reading "BE NATURAL." One sequence, in which a young girl stands outside amid a flurry of falling autumn leaves, is particularly atmospheric and poetic.
Young girl Winifred (Marian Swayne) is diagnosed with "consumption" (a euphemism for tuberculosis), and is given until the end of autumn ("when the last leaf falls") to live. Younger sister Trixie (Magda Foy) touchingly tries to halt the falling of autumn leaves, and inadvertently comes across Dr. Headley (Mace Greenleaf), a bacteriologist who has recently prepared a serum to cure the condition. The film met with some controversy prior to its release. The National Board of Censorship, founded in 1909, found it objectionable that young Winifred receives no form of quarantine following her diagnosis, given the highly contagious nature of tuberculosis. Their concerns went unheeded, but, admittedly, the film may have treated the "consumption" too lightly. Indeed, in a sad irony, just nine days after 'Falling Leaves' was released, actor Mace Greenleaf died from typhoid pneumonia, another infectious bacteriological lung condition.
Young girl Winifred (Marian Swayne) is diagnosed with "consumption" (a euphemism for tuberculosis), and is given until the end of autumn ("when the last leaf falls") to live. Younger sister Trixie (Magda Foy) touchingly tries to halt the falling of autumn leaves, and inadvertently comes across Dr. Headley (Mace Greenleaf), a bacteriologist who has recently prepared a serum to cure the condition. The film met with some controversy prior to its release. The National Board of Censorship, founded in 1909, found it objectionable that young Winifred receives no form of quarantine following her diagnosis, given the highly contagious nature of tuberculosis. Their concerns went unheeded, but, admittedly, the film may have treated the "consumption" too lightly. Indeed, in a sad irony, just nine days after 'Falling Leaves' was released, actor Mace Greenleaf died from typhoid pneumonia, another infectious bacteriological lung condition.