Der Mann, den sie Pferd nannten (1970)

Der Mann, den sie Pferd nannten: Directed by Elliot Silverstein. With Richard Harris, Judith Anderson, Jean Gascon, Manu Tupou. In 1825, an English aristocrat is captured by Native Americans. He lives with them and begins to understand their way of life. Eventually, he is accepted as part of the tribe and aspires to become their leader.

“Despite some excellent inroads, Hollywood today remains male-dominated, not only behind the scenes but in the scripts and the casting, right down to the extras. Geena Davis is conducting a study that will be released in February 2014, but having heard some of the statistics already, itu0026#39;s pretty shocking stuff. Here are a few: women buy 55% of film tickets; however, women directed 7% of the top 250 grossing films, wrote 8% of the top 250 grossing films, comprised 17% of all executive producers, 23% of all producers, 18% of editors, and 2% of cinematographersu003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo itu0026#39;s interesting to realize that early in film history, women actually dominated as writers, directors, and producers. Even Leonard Maltin doesnu0026#39;t know why it changed, but in the late u0026#39;30s, it ended with a big thump.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis documentary tells the story of one of the greatest screenwriters of all time, Francis Marion, responsible for some great films, including u0026quot;Anna Christie,u0026quot; u0026quot;Dinner at Eight,u0026quot; u0026quot;The Champ,u0026quot; u0026quot;The Scarlet Letteru0026quot; and many Mary Pickford films.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis is such a fascinating documentary about not only Marion, but the early power of women in film, their contributions, and their ultimate fall for power. For Marion, this happened due to the death of one of her great champions, Irving Thalberg, and it was about the same time that it happened to all of them.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMarion was not only talented, but generous, writing roles for friends who were out of work, such as Marie Dressler and Hedda Hopper.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe focus of the documentary is on her great friendship with Mary Pickford and her very happy marriage to Fred Thomson, who became an early western star and died tragically in 1928, leaving Marion with three young boys. However, the documentary does not talk about Marionu0026#39;s other marriages, a subsequent one to director George Roy Hill in 1930, which ended in 1933, and two marriages before she met Rex. It sort of makes it sound as if Mary and Marion were both single when they became friends; in reality, that isnu0026#39;t the case. I suspect, though I canu0026#39;t prove it, that although she was married to someone from 1911 to 1917, she was probably not living with her husband during all of those years.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe documentary contains some neat film footage and comments by Fay Kanin, Leonard Maltin, one of Marionu0026#39;s sons, and others.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHighly recommended, and a real eye-opener.”