Louise Dahl-Wolfe: Painting with Light (
1999) is a
documentary film about
Louise Dahl-Wolfe, an important woman in the history of photography. It was written and directed by
Tom Neff, and produced by Neff and Madeline Bell, who previously collaborated on the
Oscar nominated short-documentary
Red Grooms: Sunflower in a Hothouse (
1986).
Synopsis
This short documentary film on the life of
Louise Dahl-Wolfe draws upon her art and her personality. The documentary reviews how Dahl-Wolfe "discovered" Lauren Bacall, who at the time was a young actress (seventeen years-of-age) and worked as a model. It was Dahl-Wolfe's photos of Bacall that film producer
Harry Warner saw, and subsequently asked Bacall that she come to Hollywood for a screen test. As a result, Bacall was cast opposite
Humphrey Bogart in the film
To Have and Have Not (
1944).
Dahl-Wolfe also photographed:
Tallulah Bankhead,
Spencer Tracy,
Eudora Welty,
Paul Robson,
Bette Davis, and others.
Background
The documentary took over ten years to complete and features the only surviving modern footage of Dahl-Wolfe, including extensive interviews.
Interviews
Distribution
The film has been shown on selected
PBS television stations and was the first original production of the new digital channel:
DOC: The Documentary Channel.
