To every child of every land,
Little Sister, Little Brother,
As in this book your lives unfold,
May you learn to love each other.
These are the words of Madeline Brandeis, recognized in 1929 by the League of Nations as “an important contributor to world peace” for her series of “Children of All Lands” films and novels. In her short lifetime, she financed, wrote, produced, edited and directed films, and formed two companies, The Little Players’ Film Company and Madeline Brandeis Productions, before tragically dying as the result of a car accident at age 39. Yet, despite her incredible achievements, even ardent silent film fans have probably never heard of her.
Brandeis is one of the under-recognized directors Flicker Alley aims to rewrite back into film history with Early Women Filmmakers: An International Anthology, which includes her first film, the feature-length fantasy The Star Prince (1918), which she independently produced and directed at 21 years old.
In order to add insight into the life and work of this inspiring filmmaker, we are proud to present several articles written about Brandeis in her own time as well as one article written by the director herself.
We gratefully acknowledge the Media History Digital Library for making these public domain articles accessible.
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