"Falling Leaves" is a 12-minute black-and-white short film from 1912. And even if this is already over 100 years old, this was far from the very early days of cinema where movies were only a couple seconds long. Also director Alice Guy was already fairly experienced at this stage, briefly before turning 40. This is a silent movie, do not be fooled by soundtracks that were added to it later. None of the actors in here are particularly known, but there is certainly some irony to the fact that the guy who played the doctor, a lung specialist, died pretty much exactly the time when this film came out, from pneumonia. The story is about a young woman who is dying from illness and the doctor says that she will be dead when the last leaf falls, which means by winter. So her little sister (?) makes sure that the leaves stay firm on the plants. A cute little story with some heart, a cute feel-good ending and a decent amount of drama. Guy is not like Chaplin in terms of filmmaking, this is no comedy. You could rather compare her to D.W. Griffith I think. Good little film and I recommend it.
Review of Falling Leaves
