1918: We Can?t Have Everything (C. B. DeMille) (co-director); Till I Come Back to You (C. B. DeMille); The Squaw Man (C. B. DeMille). 1919: Male and Female (C. B. DeMille); For Better, for Worse (C. B. DeMille); Don?t Change Your Husband (C. B. DeMille). 1920: Why Change Your Wife? (C. B. DeMille); Something to Think About (C. B. DeMille). 1921: Forbidden Fruit (C. B. DeMille); Fool?s Paradise (C. B. DeMille); The Affairs of Anatol (C. B. DeMille). 1922: Saturday Night (C. B. DeMille); Manslaughter (C. B. DeMille). 1923: The Ten Commandments (C. B. DeMille); Adam?s Rib (C. B. DeMille). 1924: Triumph (C. B. DeMille); Feet of Clay (C. B. DeMille). 1925: The Road to Yesterday (C. B. DeMille); The Golden Bed (C. B. DeMille). 1926: The Volga Boatman (C. B. DeMille). 1927: The King of Kings (C. B. DeMille) (co); Chicago (Urson). 1928: Ned McCobb?s Daughter (Cowan); Craig?s Wife (W. C. de Mille). 1929: Noisy Neighbors (Reisner); The Godless Girl (C. B. DeMille); Dynamite (C. B. DeMille). 1930: Lord Byron of Broadway (Nigh and Beaumont); This Mad World (W. C. de Mille) (co); Madam Satan (Madame Satan) (C. B. DeMille). 1931: The Squaw Man (The White Man) (C. B. DeMille); Guilty Hands (Van Dyke); The Great Meadow (Brabin) (co). 1932: The Sign of the Cross (C. B. DeMille); The Beast of the City (City Sentinel) (Brabin); The Wet Parade (Fleming). 1933: Tonight Is Ours (Walker); Cradle Song (Leisen); This Day and Age (C. B. DeMille). 1934: Four Frightened People (C. B. DeMille); Cleopatra (C. B. DeMille); Menace (Murphy); Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (Taurog); One Hour Late (Murphy). 1935: The Crusades (C. B. DeMille). 1936: The Plainsman (C. B. DeMille). 1937: This Way Please (Florey). 1938: Bulldog Drummond in Africa (L. King); Hunted Men (Crime Gives Orders) (L. King); Sons of the Legion (Hogan); The Buccaneer (C. B. DeMille). 1939: Television Spy (Dmytryk); Union Pacific (C. B. DeMille). 1940: Women without Names (Florey); Northwest Mounted Police (C. B. DeMille). 1941: Land of Liberty. 1942: Reap the Wild Wind (C. B. DeMille); Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (Murphy). 1943: The Commandos Strike at Dawn (Farrow). 1944: The Story of Dr. Wassell (C. B. DeMille); Tomorrow the World (Fenton). 1945: Love Letters (Dieterle). 1947: Unconquered (C. B. DeMille). 1949: Samson and Delilah (C. B. DeMille). 1952: The Greatest Show on Earth (C. B. DeMille). 1956: The Ten Commandments (C. B. DeMille).
Abu Series: 1943-44: Abu?s Dungeon; Abu?s Poisoned Well; Abu?s Harvest; Abu Builds a Dam (+ co-producer, co-animator/animation).
Worked as a telephone operator at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch; moved to New York City with the intention of becoming a Broadway actress; worked as a secretary in a real-estate company; 1912?hired as a secretary to William C. de Mille; 1915?accompanied de Mille to Hollywood; 1918?worked as an assistant and script supervisor to Cecil B. DeMille and began editing DeMille-directed films; 1934?first of four Academy Award nominations for best film editing, for Cleopatra;
Academy Award, Best Film Editing, for Northwest Mounted
St. Louis, Missouri, 2 February 1882 (some sources say 1881).
Studied drama with actor-director Hugh Ford; later studied dancing and gymnastics.
In Woodland Hills, California, 7 May 1967
?Some hundreds of millions of people, at least, have seen Anne Bauchens? name on the screen as film editor,? wrote Cecil B. DeMille in his autobiography. ?It has meant nothing to them?except to the few who know that gracious white-haired lady or who know, as we in the business know, how much a film?s success or failure is due to the way it is edited.?
While it was fitting for DeMille to cite Bauchens and praise her profession in his book (which was published posthumously in 1959), the fact remains that the status of film editors was considered lowly for decades. It was deemed not so much a profession as a craft?and this was one reason why women were allowed to become editors. The insignificance of editors is reflected by the listings in the section headed ?Personnel of Studios?U.S. & Canada,? published in the 1928 Film Daily Year Book. Cited under the heading Path?-DeMille Studio are employees from President (Cecil B. DeMille) down through Technical Director (Ted Dickson, Julia Heron), Chief of Props (William House), Chief Electrician (William Whistler), Still Cameraman (Fred Archer) and Paymaster (I. F. Dawson). There is no listing for Editor, and no mention of Bauchens.
Nevertheless, Bauchens (whom DeMille called ?Annie B.?) is as much a movie industry pioneer as the man who steadily employed her for just under four decades. She had worked as secretary to DeMille?s brother William C. de Mille, a director-playwright-screenwriter, before becoming C.B.?s assistant, script supervisor, and finally editor (or cutter, as they were called when she earned her first screen credit). DeMille?s decision to train Bauchens resulted in her becoming one of the industry?s first script supervisors and female editors. (Many sources credit Bauchens as the very first female editor; however, Viola Lawrence [also known as Viola Mallory], for one, predated her by two years.) She developed into a solid and strong-willed craftswoman,
On occasion, Bauchens worked on the films of other directors (including William Dieterle, John Farrow, Victor Fleming, and Mitchell Leisen). But she was almost exclusively employed by DeMille, editing every one of his films from We Can?t Have Everything in 1918 all the way to his last, 1956?s The Ten Commandments, made when she was in her mid-seventies. On The Ten Commandments, Bauchens was entrusted to retain the story?s thrust and dramatic power while editing down to 12,000 feet the 100,000-plus feet of film shot by DeMille.
When a film was in its editing stage, Bauchens was known to work 16-plus hour days. And she was no shrinking violet who would acquiesce without comment to DeMille?s demands; she would offer creative input, and even argue with her boss if she felt strongly about her point of view.
Later in his career, whenever DeMille signed a contract to direct a film, he claimed to have insisted on the inclusion of a clause stipulating that Bauchens would be hired as editor. ?This is not sentiment, or at least not only sentiment,? DeMille explained in his autobiography. ?She is still the best film editor I know.??