2013 Essays

Blanche MacIntosh

Brown, Simon

Blanche MacIntosh is a familiar name thanks to her adaptation of Helen Mather’s novel Comin’ Thro’ the Rye (1923) for Cecil Hepworth, a film often discussed as a key example of British silent cinema. The film though tends to be viewed as primarily Hepworth’s work, leaving MacIntosh’s contribution unexplored. Yet from 1912 until 1924 Blanche MacIntosh wrote twenty-eight films for Hepworth, and for the latter part of this period she was his chief scenario writer. When and why she assumed this role is one of the many mysteries about her life and her industry role.