Directed by Dorothy Arzner

<p>Dorothy Arzner was the exception in Hollywood film history--the one woman who succeeded as a director in a career that spanned three decades. In Part One Dorothy Arzner's film career--her work as a film editor to her directorial debut to her departure from Hollywood in 1943--is documented with particular attention to Arzner's roles as star-maker and woman's director. In Part Two Mayne analyzes a number of Arzner's films and discusses how feminist preoccupations shape them from the women's communities central to Dance Girl Dance and The Wild Party to critiques of the heterosexual couple in Christopher Strong and Craig's Wife. Part Three treats Arzner's lesbianism and the role that desire between women played in her career her life and her films.</p>