Women Film Pioneers Project
Blanche Sewell entered the ranks of negative cutters shortly after graduating from Inglewood High School in 1918. She assisted cutter Viola Lawrence on Man, Woman, Marriage (1921) and became a cutter in her own right at MGM in the early 1920s. She remained an editor there until her death in 1949.
See also: Hettie Grey Baker, Anne Bauchens, Margaret Booth, Winifred Dunn, Katherine Hilliker, Viola Lawrence, Jane Loring, Irene Morra, Rose Smith
The bibliography for this essay is included in the “Cutting Women: Margaret Booth and Hollywood’s Pioneering Female Film Editors” overview essay.
A. Archival Filmography: Extant Film Titles:
1. Blanche Sewell as Editor
After Midnight. Dir. Monta Bell, sc.: Lorna Moon, ed.: Blanche Sewell (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. US 1927) cas.: Norma Shearer, Gwen Lee, si., b&w. Archive: Cinémathèque Française.
Man, Woman, and Sin. Dir. Monta Bell, sc.: Alice D. G. Miller, Monta Bell, ed.: Blanche Sewell (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. US 1927) cas.: John Gilbert, Jeanne Eagels, Gladys Brockwell, si., b&w. Archive: George Eastman Museum.
Tell It to the Marines. Dir.: George Hill, sc.: E. Richard Schayer, ed.: Blanche Sewell (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. US 1927) cas.: Lon Chaney, William Haines, si, b&w, 35mm. Archive: George Eastman Museum, UCLA Film & Television Archive.
The Cossacks. Dir.: George Hill, adp.: Frances Marion, ed.: Blanche Sewell (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. US 1928) cas.: John Gilbert, Renée Adorée, si, b&w. Archive: George Eastman Museum.
The Flying Fleet. Dir.: George Hill, sc.: Richard Schayer, Frank Wead, ed.: Blanche Sewell (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. US 1929) cas.: Ramón Novarro, Ralph Graves, si&so, b&w. Archive: Gosfilmofond.
The Single Standard. Dir. John S. Robertson, sc.: Josephine Lovett, story: Adela Rogers St. Johns, ed.: Blanche Sewell (Metro-Goldwyn -Mayer Pictures US 1929) cas.: Greta Garbo, Nils Asther, Johnny Mack Brown, si., b&w. Archive: George Eastman Museum, Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique.
Not So Dumb. Dir.: King Vidor, sc.: Wanda Tuchock, Marc Connelly, George S. Kaufman, ed.: Blanche Sewell (Metro-Goldwyn -Mayer Pictures US 1930) cas.: Marion Davies, Elliott Nugent, si&so, b&w. Archive: Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique.
B. Filmography: Non-Extant Film Titles:
1. Blanche Sewell as Editor
The Sporting Venus, 1925; The Boy Friend, 1926; Frisco Sally Levy, 1927; The Trial of Mary Dugan, 1929; Tide of Empire, 1929; Children of Pleasure, 1930.
D. Streamed Media:
Excerpts from The Single Standard (1929):
Hatch, Kristen. "Blanche Sewell." In Jane Gaines, Radha Vatsal, and Monica Dall’Asta, eds. Women Film Pioneers Project. New York, NY: Columbia University Libraries, 2013. <https://doi.org/10.7916/d8-m475-v517>
