JUNE MATHIS: The Rise and Fall of a Silent Film Visionary

Mathis, who went from being a stage actress to becoming the first woman head writer at Metro Pictures, helped write and produce some of the first films of success, such as The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and Blood and Sand. Slater’s research, however, goes beyond simply reproducing plot summaries or noting Mathis’s involvement with these and other films, but also interprets and reengages with her aesthetic sensibility, working relationship with Rudolph Valentino, and role in the making of the Ben-Hur screenplay. Nor is the biography particularly forgiving about Mathis’s life and eventual fall from grace. Slater, however, makes the case for her demise as part of an effort to push women from industry positions of power as the Hollywood studio system took shape. The only real problem with the book is that the connecting chapters tend to be a bit more plodding than the rest of the narrative. Nevertheless, it is a much-needed effort to reclaim important women figures from the purview of film history. As Film Quarterly’s review puts it, “Slater reminds readers of a fact long overlooked … Mathis was among the most important [women] in the silent era.” -- Reviewed by Allan R. Ellenberger for The Hollywoodland Revue