1912 E4 - Marsha Gordon

1912 E4 - Marsha Gordon

From The 5 Best Films of Every Year Ever by Tristan Ettleman

May 13, 2026 · 57 min · Season 14 · Episode 4

About this episode

Marsha Gordon discusses influential directors and notable films from 1912, including a focus on stop-motion animation.

Marsha Gordon, Professor of Film Studies at North Carolina State University, mostly highlights two directors credited with advancing film narrative with four picks. But she also sings the praises of a certain work of stop-motion animation, one taking this season by storm for both guests’ and listeners’ submissions. Marsha is the author of Becoming the Ex-Wife: The Unconventional Life & Forgotten Writings of Ursula Parrott , Film, Form & Culture (with Robert Kolker), and Film is Like a Battleground: Sam Fuller’s War Films . She is currently writing a biography of the pioneering Hollywood director Dorothy Arzner. Films mentioned: Falling Leaves (1912) - Alice Guy-Blaché Making an American Citizen (1912) - Alice Guy-Blaché The Girl and Her Trust (1912) - D.W. Griffith The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) - D.W. Griffith The Cameraman’s Revenge (1912) - Wladyslaw Starewicz The Divorcee (1930) - Robert Z. Leonard Next Time We Love (1936) - Edward H. Griffith The Immigrant (1917) - Charlie Chaplin The Brutalist (2024) - Brady Corbet The Consequences of Feminism (1906) - Alice Guy-Blaché The Lonedale Operator (1911) - D.W. Griffith The Birth of a Nation (1915) - D.W. Griffith I Am…

People in this episode

Host: Tristan Ettleman

Guest: Marsha Gordon

Topics covered

  • film studies
  • film history
  • stop-motion animation
  • narrative advancement
  • director highlights

Keywords

  • Marsha Gordon
  • film narrative
  • stop-motion animation
  • 1912 films
  • Alice Guy-Blaché

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: North Carolina State University

Books & works: Becoming the Ex-Wife: The Unconventional Life & Forgotten Writings of Ursula Parrott, Film, Form & Culture, Film is Like a Battleground: Sam Fuller’s War Films, Falling Leaves, Making an American Citizen, The Girl and Her Trust, The Musketeers of Pig Alley, The Cameraman’s Revenge, The Divorcee, Next Time We Love

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