By the time the 1920's rolled into high gear, director/writer/producer Lois Weber, later labeled as "the most important female director the American film industry has known," had just signed a five-picture deal with Paramount Pictures. Previously, her many movies, estimated between 200 and 400, of which only 20 survive, addressed current societal issues of her day. Reading in a magazine about the impoverished plight of poorly paid educators, she decided to bring the issue to the forefront in her fourth movie for Paramount.
She illustrates the extreme poverty of a fictitious college professor and his family's battle to simply feed themselves in September 1921's "The Blot." They are so poor the professor's wife has to make daily decisions on what low cost foods to feed the family of three to survive. Their daughter, meanwhile, needs to work long hours in the library to help her parents make ends meet.
"The Blot" is considered Weber's masterpiece. The subject matter alone, unique in addressing a problem society by and large ignored, spotlights those whose value to civilization, so crucial in raising the educational awareness in the classroom, are often ignored by beancounters in the administration hierarchy when it comes to the paycheck. Weber felt such educators were unappreciated while consumer product manufacturers (similar to today's high tech firms) are paid considerably more. Her film points out as an example of the professor's next door neighbor, Hans Olsen, a shoemaker, earning considerably more money than the educator.
As a naturalist director, Weber opted for realistic settings rather than film inside a sterile studio. She used buildings around the old University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), before the campus was relocated to Westwood. These Vermont Avenue homes and classrooms highlight a middle class neighborhood that behind some doors food became the most prized commodity for living.
Before "The Blot" was released Paramount decided to cancel its agreement with her because the company felt its audiences were becoming bored with her social messages, despite the high craftsmanship her films displayed. Weber scurried around to find another distribution company to place the movie into theaters. F. W. Warren Corporation was willing to handle the task, but its association with small theaters wasn't enough to make a profit for the film, forcing her to close her production studio. Upon retrospect, one film historian noted that Weber failed to adapt her movies to the changing tastes of viewers while refusing to "feature big-name stars or to glamorize consumerist excess in her films."
Advising young women to avoid filmmaking careers after her personal situation soured, Weber was in and out of the movie industry for several more years. The apex of her creativity concluded with "The Blot." Her final movie, low-budgeted 1934's "White Heat, was her only talkie she directed. In November 1939, at age 60, divorced and destitute, Weber died of a bleeding ulcer. With little public fanfare, she was cremated with the location of her remains unknown.
She illustrates the extreme poverty of a fictitious college professor and his family's battle to simply feed themselves in September 1921's "The Blot." They are so poor the professor's wife has to make daily decisions on what low cost foods to feed the family of three to survive. Their daughter, meanwhile, needs to work long hours in the library to help her parents make ends meet.
"The Blot" is considered Weber's masterpiece. The subject matter alone, unique in addressing a problem society by and large ignored, spotlights those whose value to civilization, so crucial in raising the educational awareness in the classroom, are often ignored by beancounters in the administration hierarchy when it comes to the paycheck. Weber felt such educators were unappreciated while consumer product manufacturers (similar to today's high tech firms) are paid considerably more. Her film points out as an example of the professor's next door neighbor, Hans Olsen, a shoemaker, earning considerably more money than the educator.
As a naturalist director, Weber opted for realistic settings rather than film inside a sterile studio. She used buildings around the old University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), before the campus was relocated to Westwood. These Vermont Avenue homes and classrooms highlight a middle class neighborhood that behind some doors food became the most prized commodity for living.
Before "The Blot" was released Paramount decided to cancel its agreement with her because the company felt its audiences were becoming bored with her social messages, despite the high craftsmanship her films displayed. Weber scurried around to find another distribution company to place the movie into theaters. F. W. Warren Corporation was willing to handle the task, but its association with small theaters wasn't enough to make a profit for the film, forcing her to close her production studio. Upon retrospect, one film historian noted that Weber failed to adapt her movies to the changing tastes of viewers while refusing to "feature big-name stars or to glamorize consumerist excess in her films."
Advising young women to avoid filmmaking careers after her personal situation soured, Weber was in and out of the movie industry for several more years. The apex of her creativity concluded with "The Blot." Her final movie, low-budgeted 1934's "White Heat, was her only talkie she directed. In November 1939, at age 60, divorced and destitute, Weber died of a bleeding ulcer. With little public fanfare, she was cremated with the location of her remains unknown.