Pioneer & Queer: Dorothy Arzner - Hollywood’s Forgotten Director

Pioneer & Queer: Dorothy Arzner - Hollywood’s Forgotten Director

March 21, 2025

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When you think of the Golden Age of Hollywood, names like Frank Capra, John Ford, Orson Welles, Howard Hawkes are just a few that come to mind. But what about Dorothy Arzner?

On March 8th, Cinephile Paradiso hosted an event in celebration of International Women's Day dedicating the event to this pioneering director with a screening of her only surviving silent film, Get Your Man (1927). It was truly magical to witness a packed cinema for the Irish premiere of this nearly 100 year old film.

In Arzner’s first year of directing in 1927, she made three films back to back. Get Your Man was Arzner’s third feature and is the only remaining silent film of her early directorial career. Starring the legendary Clara Bow (Hollywood’s original "It Girl"), Get Your Man follows the story of a young woman who cleverly manoeuvres her way into the heart of the man she loves, despite societal expectations and obstacles in her way. The film was known around the Paramount Studio as the “all-woman production”; in addition to the star and director, the screenwriters and business manager, Henrietta Cohn, were women. The technical director for the museum scenes was Marion Morgan, Arzner’s lifelong companion.

We were fortunate to receive a copy of this film from the Library of Congress, who preserved and restored it. Four of the film’s six reels were rescued and preserved decades ago so around twenty minutes were lost due to nitrate decomposition, so the film is incomplete. To bridge these gaps, still images and explanatory titles were inserted by LOC, ensuring we could experience Get Your Man as fully as possible, despite the losses to time.

Dorothy Arzner was not the first female director in American film history, but her career was incredibly unique and significant. She was the only female director working in Hollywood’s Golden Era in the 30s and early 40s, her directorial career spanned 15 years, during which she produced 16 films which bears the credit: ‘Directed by Dorothy Arzner’. Arzner worked her way through various stages of film production, becoming adept at many of the most important aspects of filmmaking, including editing and screenwriting. However, her ultimate ambition was to direct, and she pursued this goal by learning virtually every stage of the film production process.

She started as a script typist at Paramount and quickly moved into editing, where she became a skilled cutter. She cut around 32 pictures in a single year. So, she worked on dozens of films even before sitting in the director’s chair, including editing the major Rudolph Valentino film, Blood and Sand (1922). Her transition to directing came when she told the studio that if they didn’t give her a chance to direct, she would leave and find work elsewhere. Recognising her enormous worth and value to Paramount, they said yes. Her directorial debut came in 1927 with Fashions for Women (now a lost film) which she worked on with her partner, Marion Morgan.

Arzner directed over 16 films, giving strong, independent female characters a voice on screen at a time when the industry was overwhelmingly dominated by men. She collaborated with some of the most celebrated actresses of her time, including Lucille Ball, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell and Katherine Hepburn. She had incredible foresight and was a true star-maker—many iconic actresses of the era got their start with Arzner, such as Katharine Hepburn, who had only played minor roles before being cast in Christopher Strong (1933).

Beyond her ability to craft compelling female characters, Arzner was also a pioneer in film production. On the set of The Wild Party (1929), she hooked a microphone to a fishing rod—thus, the boom mic was born. This simple yet groundbreaking invention changed the way sound was recorded in films and remains a standard technique in filmmaking today. Arzner regularly brought her films under budget and provided a new model of economy for filmmaking or what the studios called it - how to make a A feature with a B film budget. Arzner also became the first woman to join the Directors Guild of America in the 1930s.

She was a significant figure in LGBTQ+ film history. A proud queer figure, Arzner lived with her partner, Marion Morgan, for most of her life until her death in 1979. Morgan, a well-known choreographer, had her own dance troupe and contributed to the production design of many of Arzner’s films. Arzner frequently collaborated with women, both in front of and behind the camera. Her films were always stylish, with stunning production design that reflected her meticulous attention to detail and always centered on women, their relationships and relationships with each other.

In the 1960s, Arzner became a professor at UCLA where she mentored aspiring filmmakers most notably a young Francis Ford Coppola. There was a reclamation of her work by feminist film theorists in the 70s and as a result she received a star on the Hollywood walk of fame, the only award she ever officially won.

For too long, Dorothy Arzner’s contributions to cinema have been overlooked. She broke barriers in a male dominated industry, shaped the future of film production, and gave women a voice on screen. This is why we feel it is important to hold these events… to shine a light on artists like Arzner, whose work deserves to be celebrated and remembered especially on International Women’s Day. Watching the dissolving nitrate on the film print reminded us of the living, breathing nature of film and how it must be nurtured. This is why we go to the cinema, to experience that magic. It’s why we must support local and independent cinemas (like the Silent Cinema), to ensure that the art of cinema is kept alive forever.

Dorothy Arnzer Watchlist

Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)
Merrily We Go to Hell (1932)
Christopher Strong (1933)
The Wild Party (1929)
Working Girls (1931)
The Bride Wore Red (1937)
Craig’s Wife (1936)