Showing posts with label G.W. Pabst. Show all posts
Showing posts with label G.W. Pabst. Show all posts

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, screens in Houston, Texas on March 24th

Lulu continues to get around.... The newly released digital restoration of the sensational 1929 silent film, Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks as Lulu, will be shown on Sunday, March 24th at 5:00 pm in the Brown Auditorium Theater at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas. This screening of the digital restoration includes a musical soundtrack by the late composer Peer Raben. More information about this event can be found HERE.


And here is what the event venue says:

Early German cinema master G. W. Pabst cast Ziegfeld girl Louise Brooks, whose legend was defined by this stylish and controversial melodrama. One of silent cinema’s great masterworks and a testament to Brooks’s dazzling individuality, Pandora’s Box follows the downward spiral of the fiery, brash, yet innocent showgirl Lulu, whose sexual vivacity has a devastating effect on everyone she meets. Digital restoration includes a musical soundtrack by the late composer Peer Raben (2046; Querelle).

Digital restoration from best surviving 35mm material (1952, 1964, and 1970 duplicate elements) by Haghefilm Conservation, with archival sponsorship and FIAF coordination by the George Eastman House and the collaboration of the Cinémathèque Française, Cineteca del comune di Bologna, Národní filmový archiv, and Gosfilmofond of Russia. Restoration conceived and supervised by Martin Koerber and funded by Hugh M. Hefner.


Want to lean more? A big, newly updated page about Pandora's Box can be found on the newly improved Louise Brooks Society website. Click on the film title to access the LBS filmography page devoted to the movie.

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2024. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Monday, January 30, 2023

Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1929

Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1929. Based on two plays by the  German dramatist Frank Wedekind, Die Büchse der Pandora, or Pandora’s Box, tells the story of Lulu, a lovely, amoral, and somewhat petulant showgirl whose behavior leads to tragic consequences. Louise Brooks plays Lulu, the singular femme fatale. As Brooks' biographer Barry Paris put it, her “sinless sexuality hypnotizes and destroys the weak, lustful men around her.” And not just men. . . Lulu’s sexual magnetism had few bounds, and this once controversial film features what may be the screen’s first lesbian character. More about the film can be found on the Louise Brooks Society filmography page.


The film went into production at the Nero-Film Studio in Berlin, with production lasting between October 17 and November 23, 1928. The film premiered on February 9, 1929 at the Gloria-Palast in Berlin, Germany.

Under its original German title, Die Büchse der Pandora, documented screenings of the film took place in Austria, Danzig, Slovakia (then part of Czechoslovakia), Latvia, Luxembourg, Ukraine, and the United States.

Outside Germany, Die Büchse der Pandora was exhibited or written about under the title Loulou (Algeria); La caja de Pandora and Lulu (Argentina); Le boîte de Pandore and Loulou (Belgium); A caixa de Pandora (Brazil); Кутията на Пандора (Bulgaria); La caja de Pandora and Lulu (Chile); Lulu La Pecadora (Cuba); Pandořina skříňka or Pandořina skříňka (Lulu) and Umrít Büchse der Pandoru (Czechoslovakia) and Pandorina skrínka (Slovakia); Pandoras æske (Denmark); De doos van Pandora (Dutch East Indies – Indonesia); Pandora’s Box (England); Pandora laegas (Estonia); Pandoran lipas (Finland); Loulou and Le boîte de Pandore (France); Λούλου and Lulu- το κουτί της Πανδώρας (Greece); Pandóra szelencéje (Hungary); Lulu and Il vaso di Pandora and Jack lo Sventratore (Italy); パンドラの箱 or Pandoranohako and The Box of Pandora (Japan); Korea (Box of Pandora);  Pandoras lade and Pandoras Kaste (Latvia); Pandoros skrynia (Lithuania); Lou lou La Boite de Pandore (Luxembourg); La caja de Pandora (Mexico); De doos van Pandora (The Netherlands*); Pandoras eske (Norway); Lulu and Puszka Pandory (Poland); A Bocéta de Pandora and A caixa de Pandora (Portugal); Cutia Pandorei and Lulu and Pandora szelenceje (Romania); Lulu and Pandorina skrinjica (Slovenia); La caja de Pandora (Spain); Pandoras ask (Sweden); Meş’um Fahişe and Meş’um Fahişe (Lulu) (Turkey); Dzieje Kokoty Lulu (Ukraine); Box of Pandora and Pandora’s Box and Pandora szelencéje (Hungarian-language press) and Ящик Пандоры (Russian-language press) (United States); La caja de Pandora and Lulu and El alma de la herrera (Uruguay, sound version); Lulu and Лулу and Ящик Пандорьі (U.S.S.R.); La caja de Pandora (Venezula).

Since the late 1950s, numerous screenings of the film have been taken place around the world, including first ever showings under the title Pandora’s Box in Australia, Canada, India, Israel, Northern Ireland, and elsewhere. Within the last few years, a showing of the film also took place in Turkey under the titles Pandora’nın Kutusu and Pandora’nýn Kutusuö. The film has also been shown on television across Europe as well as in Australia, Canada, the United States, and elsewhere.

*Despite the film being banned in The Netherlands in 1930, it was shown on October 18, 1935 in Amsterdam at De Uitkijk.

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

 — The jazz combo seen playing in the wedding scene in the film is Sid Kay's Fellows. They were an actual musical group of the time. Founded in 1926 and led by Sigmund Petruschka (“Sid”) and Kurt Kaiser (“Kay”), Sid Kay’s Fellows were a popular ten member dance band based in Berlin. They performed at the Haus Vaterland (a leading Berlin night-spot) between 1930 and 1932. And in 1933, they accompanied the great Sidney Bechet during his recitals in the German capitol. Sid Kay’s Fellows also accompanied various theatrical performances and played in Munich, Dresden, Frankfurt, Vienna, Budapest, Barcelona and elsewhere. The group’s depiction in Pandora’s Box predates their career as recording artists. In 1933, when the Nazis came to power, Sid Kay’s Fellows were forbidden to perform publicly. They disbanded, and transformed themselves into a studio orchestra and made recordings for the Jewish label Lukraphon.

— When Pandora’s Box debuted in Berlin in 1929, an orchestra playing a musical score accompanied the film. The score was reviewed in at least one of the Berlin newspapers. The score, however, does not apparently survive. What is also not known is if the music of Sid Kay’s Fellows, or any sort of jazz, played a part in the music of Pandora’s Box. [Interestingly, director G.W. Pabst included another jazz combo in his next film with Brooks, The Diary of a Lost Girl.]


THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2023. Further unauthorized use prohibited.

Sunday, January 30, 2022

Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1929

Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1929. Based on two plays by the  German dramatist Frank Wedekind, Die Büchse der Pandora, or Pandora’s Box, tells the story of Lulu, a lovely, amoral, and somewhat petulant showgirl whose behavior leads to tragic consequences. Louise Brooks plays Lulu, the singular femme fatale. As Brooks' biographer Barry Paris put it, her “sinless sexuality hypnotizes and destroys the weak, lustful men around her.” And not just men. . . Lulu’s sexual magnetism had few bounds, and this once controversial film features what may be the screen’s first lesbian character. More about the film can be found on the Louise Brooks Society filmography page.

The film went into production at the Nero-Film Studio in Berlin, with production lasting between October 17 and November 23, 1928. The film premiered on February 9, 1929 at the Gloria-Palast in Berlin, Germany.

Under its original German title, Die Büchse der Pandora, documented screenings of the film took place in Austria, Danzig, Slovakia (then part of Czechoslovakia), Latvia, Luxembourg, Ukraine, and the United States.

Outside Germany, Die Büchse der Pandora was exhibited or written about under the title Loulou (Algeria); La caja de Pandora and Lulu (Argentina); Le boîte de Pandore and Loulou (Belgium); A caixa de Pandora (Brazil); Кутията на Пандора (Bulgaria); La caja de Pandora and Lulu (Chile); Lulu La Pecadora (Cuba); Pandořina skříňka or Pandořina skříňka (Lulu) and Umrít Büchse der Pandoru (Czechoslovakia) and Pandorina skrínka (Slovakia); Pandoras æske (Denmark); De doos van Pandora (Dutch East Indies – Indonesia); Pandora’s Box (England); Pandora laegas (Estonia); Pandoran lipas (Finland); Loulou and Le boîte de Pandore (France); Λούλου and Lulu- το κουτί της Πανδώρας (Greece); Pandóra szelencéje (Hungary); Lulu and Il vaso di Pandora and Jack lo Sventratore (Italy); パンドラの箱 or Pandoranohako and The Box of Pandora (Japan); Korea (Box of Pandora);  Pandoras lade and Pandoras Kaste (Latvia); Pandoros skrynia (Lithuania); Lou lou La Boite de Pandore (Luxembourg); La caja de Pandora (Mexico); De doos van Pandora (The Netherlands*); Pandoras eske (Norway); Lulu and Puszka Pandory (Poland); A Bocéta de Pandora and A caixa de Pandora (Portugal); Cutia Pandorei and Lulu and Pandora szelenceje (Romania); Lulu and Pandorina skrinjica (Slovenia); La caja de Pandora (Spain); Pandoras ask (Sweden); Meş’um Fahişe and Meş’um Fahişe (Lulu) (Turkey); Dzieje Kokoty Lulu (Ukraine); Box of Pandora and Pandora’s Box and Pandora szelencéje (Hungarian-language press) and Ящик Пандоры (Russian-language press) (United States); La caja de Pandora and Lulu and El alma de la herrera (Uruguay, sound version); Lulu and Лулу and Ящик Пандорьі (U.S.S.R.); La caja de Pandora (Venezula).

Since the late 1950s, numerous screenings of the film have been taken place around the world, including first ever showings under the title Pandora’s Box in Australia, Canada, India, Israel, Northern Ireland, and elsewhere. Within the last few years, a showing of the film also took place in Turkey under the titles Pandora’nın Kutusu and Pandora’nýn Kutusuö. The film has also been shown on television across Europe as well as in Australia, Canada, the United States, and elsewhere.

*Despite the film being banned in The Netherlands in 1930, it was shown on October 18, 1935 in Amsterdam at De Uitkijk.


 — The jazz combo seen playing in the wedding scene in the film is Sid Kay's Fellows. They were an actual musical group of the time. Founded in 1926 and led by Sigmund Petruschka (“Sid”) and Kurt Kaiser (“Kay”), Sid Kay’s Fellows were a popular ten member dance band based in Berlin. They performed at the Haus Vaterland (a leading Berlin night-spot) between 1930 and 1932. And in 1933, they accompanied the great Sidney Bechet during his recitals in the German capitol. Sid Kay’s Fellows also accompanied various theatrical performances and played in Munich, Dresden, Frankfurt, Vienna, Budapest, Barcelona and elsewhere. The group’s depiction in Pandora’s Box predates their career as recording artists. In 1933, when the Nazis came to power, Sid Kay’s Fellows were forbidden to perform publicly. They disbanded, and transformed themselves into a studio orchestra and made recordings for the Jewish label Lukraphon.

— When Pandora’s Box debuted in Berlin in 1929, an orchestra playing a musical score accompanied the film. The score was reviewed in at least one of the Berlin newspapers. The score, however, does not apparently survive. What is also not known is if the music of Sid Kay’s Fellows, or any sort of jazz, played a part in the music of Pandora’s Box. [Interestingly, director G.W. Pabst included another jazz combo in his next film with Brooks, The Diary of a Lost Girl.]



Friday, March 12, 2021

Louise Brooks depicted in a 1930 Japanese magazine

I wonder if anyone can tell me something more about this four page article. It appeared in a Japanese magazine devoted to proletariat issues in 1930. Is it about Louise Brooks, who is pictured, or is it, more likely, about left-leaning director G. W. Pabst? Is the piece complete? I think so, but am not sure. Any and all help would be appreciated. Double-click on a page to make it bigger.

 
Lately, I have been working on a chapter in my forthcoming book, Around the World with Louise Brooks, which is titled "Louise Brooks as modan gāru." Brooks was popular in Japan in the late 1920s. In fact, as I reveal in the book, Japan was the only country outside of Europe were Brooks three European films were shown around the time of their release!

Friday, September 25, 2020

Another Louise Brooks related film to watch online

Alan Boyle pointed out on the Louise Brooks Society Facebook page the recent availability of Dance with Death: The Ufa Star Sybille Schmitz (2000), a ten year old documentary about the once popular 1930s German actress who not only had a small featured role in the Louise Brooks film, The Diary of a Lost Girl, but was also the inspiration for the title character Veronika Voss in Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s celebrated film of the same name. 

Sybille Schmitz and Louise Brooks in The Diary of a Lost Girl
 

Besides Pabst's Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), Schmitz's other early roles include Carl Th. Dreyer's Vampyr (1932), and eventually F.P.1 (1932), where she played her first leading role. I don't speak German, but was able to watch this fascinating documentary with the closed captions turned on, as if it were subtitled.

In The Diary of a Lost Girl, Schmitz plays Elisabeth, the pregnant housekeeper who is thrown out of the house by Thymian's father. Elisabeth is soon found dead, setting in motion a chain of events with tragic consequences. As Dance with Death notes, it was Schmitz's second film role, and already her second on-screen death. The documentary also notes the dark atmosphere which seemed to hang around the actress. The Wikipedia entry on Schmitz states, "Coincidentally, the last film she made less than two years before taking her own life (1953's The House on the Coast, now considered a lost film) had Schmitz's character committing suicide as a last act of desperation. A much earlier film, Frank Wisbar's The Unknown (1936) ends with the suicide of Schmitz's character, also in a final act of desperate hopelessness.) 

Despite it's gloom, I recommend Dance with Death: The Ufa Star Sybille Schmitz. It is interesting to say the least. For example, with the rise of Nazism, the film suggests Schmitz felt a frustration with a film industry which increasingly devalued her dark features. As her Wikipedia entry states, "... her explicitly non-Aryan appearance relegated her mostly to femme-fatales or problematic foreign women." That got me wondering about Brooks' dark features and what role they may have played in her acceptance among German film goers.

Another documentary about another supporting player in The Diary of a Lost Girl is Prisoner of Paradise, the story of Kurt Gerron. In the Brooks film, Gerron plays Dr. Vitalis, who is featured in the nightclub scene where Brooks' character, Thymian, is auctioned off.

Kurt Gerron and Louise Brooks in The Diary of a Lost Girl

Prisoner of Paradise is a 2002 documentary about one of the great German actors of the 1920s and 1930s. He appeared in many films and stage productions, but today is best remembered for a key supporting role in The Blue Angel (1930), with Marlene Dietrich. After being sent to a concentration camp, Gerron was forced by his captors to direct the pro-Nazi propaganda film, The Fuhrer Gives a City to the Jews. In addition to exploring his life, Prisoner of Paradise details a remarkable detective story in which Gerron's film, lost for decades after World War II, was tracked down and painstakingly put back together.


Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Louise Brooks related film to watch online

This year, the world famous Pordenone Silent Film Festival | Le Giornate del Cinema Muto is going online. 

In the wake of the worldwide coronovirus pandemic, the eight days of screenings originally set to take place in October 2020 have been rescheduled for 2021. And in its place, the world famous festival will instead screen a number of rarely seen films and recent restorations, each paired with musical  accompaniment. The daily schedule of films can be found HERE.


Of special interest to silent film buffs and fans of Louise Brooks will be a online screening of Abwege (The Devious Path), by director G. W. Pabst. Made just prior to Pabst's Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl, this 1928 drama stars Brigitte Helm (the beautiful android in Metropolis) and Gustav Diesel (creepy Jack the Ripper in Pandora's Box) and tells a story of a marriage gone wrong. It is rich in Weimar Berlin detail.

Compared to the version screened in Pordenone in 1997, Abwege is said to have gone through a kind of rebirth after restoration by the Münchner Filmmuseum in Munich, which has produced this new copy --  beautifully tinted, from the original negative. The original inter-titles have also been reinstated, significantly enhancing an understating of the plot.


There are other films of interest as well. The George Eastman Museum has restored Cecil B. DeMille’s 1917 western, A Romance of the Redwoods, starring Mary Pickford, which is described as a beautiful example of the director’s work from the 1910s, one of the busiest periods of his long career. There is also Where Lights are Low (1921) featuring Sessue Hayakawa, a series of shorts with Laurel and Hardy, and more. Also included in the online event will be streamed discussions with archivists, musicians and film scholars, as well as the 35th year of the Jean Mitry Award presentations. (A bilingual catalogue will be downloadable on the website and later available in printed form.) 

I have always wanted to attend the Pordenone festival, but have never done so. I am excited, as this online event is a chance to experience the festival in a small way. I am registering for the event, and am looking forward to seeing Pabst's Abwege. How about you? This online festival requires registration, with a basic pass to the entire festival costing only € 9,90. That's a lot less than flying to Italy! More information about registration for the 39th annual Pordenone Silent Film Festival can be found HERE.

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

New G.W. Pabst DVD Blu-ray set features Louise Brooks

A new 16 disc set featuring the films of the Austrian-born German director G.W. Pabst has been released in France. And what's more, this gorgeous looking box set features Louise Brooks on the cover.
The set, released by Tamasa Diffusion and titled G.W. Pabst-Le Mystère d'une Âme, features 12 of the acclaimed director's best films, including Joyless Street (1925) and The Loves of Jeanne Ney (1927) as well as The White Hell of Pitz Palu (1929), The Three Penny Opera (1931), and Kameradschaft (1931). And of course, there is also Pandora's Box (1929) and The Diary of a Lost Girl (1929). The set, which runs 1289 minutes, focuses on Pabst's early efforts, but regrettably omits Secrets of a Soul (1926). Likewise, it includes Don Quixote (1933), but omits L'Atlantide (1932).

The set proclaims: "witnesses of his mastery of staging and his permanent inventiveness." The more than three and one-half hours of bonus material scattered over the various discs includes short documentary presentations, alternative versions, archival material and more. A bonus disc includes the 60 minute documentary Looking for Lulu. Also included is a 132 page book, Imaginary correspondence with Georg Wilhelm Pabst, written by Pierre Eisenreich.

I haven't yet seen this recently released set, but hope to acquire a copy soon. I need to save up my Euros! As of now, G.W. Pabst-Le Mystère d'une Âme seems only to be available via amazon France or directly (and at a better price) from its distributor, Tamasa.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood - Quentin Tarantino & Louise Brooks

During a recent trip to Michigan I found myself in Traverse City, where I went past the historic State Theater, which is owned by documentary filmmaker Micheal Moore. The State was showing Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in ... Hollywood. Out front, in the sidewalk, are the hand prints of a few celebrities who have visited the theater. I noticed the lovely Geraldine Chaplin (the daughter of Charlie Chaplin and the star of one of my all-time favorite films, Doctor Zhivago).


A week later, I was in Los Angeles, and thanks to dear friends had the opportunity to attend a 35 mm screening of Once Upon a Time in ... Hollywood at the historic Beverly Cinema, which is owned by Quentin Tarantino. I enjoyed the film a good deal, and thought I spotted a Louise Brooks-related Easter egg.... shortly after the legendary late 1960s LA nightclub Pandora's Box is depicted in Tarantino's film, a character named Lulu is introduced. Coincidence? Perhaps.



Coincidentally for real, in 1931, the Beverly showed one of the most unusual double bills I've ever come across while researching the career of Louise Brooks. That double bill featured the 1931 Paramount farce It Pays to Advertise (featuring Louise Brooks) and the 1929 German mountain movie White Hell of Pitz Palu (directed by G.W. Pabst during the months between his making Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl). What the patrons of the Beverly thought of this strange double bill one could only guess.


It is worth noting that Quentin Tarantino gave Pabst's White Hell of Pitz Palu a big shout out in his earlier film, Inglorious Bastards, as seen in the image below. Why, I can't say. Perhaps it's because Tarantino, like G.W. Pabst, is an indie director. And perhaps Tarantino feels an affinity for other independents and film history. Q., if you're reading this, drop me a line.

Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Tonka of the Gallows and other points of interest and revelation at this year's San Francisco Silent Film Festival

There are a number of really fine films being shown at this year's San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Some of them may be familiar to silent film buffs (like the Buster Keaton and Lon Chaney films), while others are likely not (Victor Fleming's Wolf Song (1929), starring Gary Cooper and Lupe Velez, or the films from Bali and Japan). For me, it's those little known gems which prove themselves a revelation. And make attending this world class festival necessary. I detailed the schedule of films in an earlier LBS blog HERE.

I haven't seen all the film which will be shown, but I have seen a handful of them. The Ukiah Daily Journal just published my article on one of the films which will be shown, Clarence Brown's The Signal Tower (1924). Louise Brooks devotees might take note that the film's two stars, Virginia Valli and Wallace Beery, also appeared in later Brooks' films. Valli appeared in Evening Clothes (1927), while Beery appeared in another "train film," Beggars of Life (1928). Both actors are pictured below in one of the film's most dramatic scenes.


The director of Beggars of Life was William Wellman. His earlier film, You Never Know Women (1926), will also be shown at the Festival. Long thought lost, this backstage story is a bravura work - and according to his son, the success of this film got Wellman assigned to direct Wings (1927), the first film to win the Oscar for Best Picture. I enjoyed You Never Know Women immensely. If you can't attend the Festival, be sure and track down the DVD, recently released by Kino. It is brilliant! Really brilliant stuff!


For me, the one film I saw that proved a revelation was Tonka of the Gallows (or Tonka Šibernice), from 1930. It is a Czech film which stars Ita Rina, an attractive Slovenian ingénue. This rarely seen gem -- a parable of the cruelty that comes from small-mindedness -- tells the story of a country girl who becomes a prostitute in Prague where an act of selfless generosity -- spending the night with a condemned man -- marks her as a pariah. This exceptionally filmed film also has a Louise Brooks connection. Prague-born actor Josef Rovenský, Thymian’s father in Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), plays the condemned man in Tonka of the Gallows. The SFSFF sums things up when it states "Made as sound was taking over the industry, Tonka of the Gallows is a tour-de-force of silent-era filmmaking from Czechoslovakian director Karel Anton, who here has made his best work, always tempering style to serve the larger story." Tonka of the Gallows is a moving film, one which I hope to see many times in the future.


G.W. Pabst, who directed Louise Brooks in both Diary of a Lost Girl and Pandora's Box (1929), directs another of the films to be seen at this year's festival, The Love of Jeanne Ney (1927). Set against Russia’s post-revolution civil war, the story follows Jeanne Ney (Édith Jéhanne) who flees to Paris when her diplomat father is killed after receiving a list of Bolshevik agents from the duplicitous opportunist Khalibiev (Fritz Rasp) -- a list that contains the name of Jeanne’s lover (Uno Henning)! Rasp played the villainous seducer of Thymian in Diary of a Lost Girl. He has one of the more memorable faces in early German film.

 

Ahead of time, I also had the chance to see the Monta Bell directed Light of Old Broadway (1925), starring Marion Davies, as well as Brownie's Little Venus (1921), starring Baby Peggy, but found both not as enjoyable as I have other films starring either Davies or the diminutive Baby Peggy. King Baggot's The Home Maker (1925), starring Alice Joyce, was interesting from a sociological point-of-view. It tells the story of a frustrated housewife who must go to work when her less than successful husband is disabled. She is a success, and the tables are turned.

One other film which I enjoyed a great deal and which also proved to be something of a revelation was the John Stahl directed Husbands and Lovers (1924). Lewis Stone is the not-so-doting husband to Florence Vidor’s devoted wife in this splendidly nuanced, briskly directed comedy that features the quintessentially caddish Lew Cody as the other man. For me, Vidor's performance was an eye-opener. She is appealing and has a manner that draws one into her character. I certainly want to see more of her films.


I am looking forward to this year's Festival, which starts later today. I am also looking forward to seeing some films for the first time -- like the Italian diva vehicle Rapsodia Satanica (1917), and the first ever Italian feature, L'Inferno (1911). And though I have seen it before, once a number of years ago after meeting Fay Wray, I am also excited to see the Paramount restoration of Erich von Stroheim's The Wedding March (1928), starring Fay Wray; this special presentation will be introduced by Wray's daughter, Victoria Riskin.


And there's also Ernst Lubitsch's The Oyster Princess (1919), starring Ossi Oswaldo, and another early German film, Opium (1919), starring Werner Krauss and Conrad Veidt, and Japanese Girls at the Harbor (1933), which the Village Voice described as “A knockout. Shimizu’s stunning tale of passion, crime, and decadence [is an] exhilarating triumph of ... experimental style [and] also a precious portrait of the great port city of Yokohama.” And there's . . . . .

For those interested, I will be signing copies of Louise Brooks the Persistent Star following the Saturday, 10:00 am showing of the Marion Davies film, The Lights of Old Broadway. My book signing is expected to start around 11:15 am.More information HERE.

Thursday, March 21, 2019

Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, screens at Niles Essanay Film Museum

The Niles Essanay Film Museum in Niles (Fremont), California has announced that it will be screening the 1929 Louise Brooks film, Pandora's Box, on Saturday, March 23 at 7:30 PM. Gideon Freudmann will accompany the film, performing a live soundtrack using real time looping and electric cello. More information about this event may be found HERE.


 


















According to the Niles website, Gideon composes music for classic and modern films, performs extensively, and has produced an impressive catalog of CDs and chamber string sheet music

The film museum, located in the San Francisco Bay Area, is housed in a storefront studio where Charlie Chaplin once worked; the museum last showed Pandora's Box, a Bay Area favorite, back in 2015.



In fact, one of the earlier revival showings of the film in the United States took place at Monterey Peninsula College in Monterey in August, 1962 as part of Peninsula Film Seminar. That historic event was attended by many local notables, including future famed film critic Pauline Kael. 

Since then, the film has been shown in the San Francisco Bay Area numerous times. Among ts many screenings are the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Oct. 5, 1972 as part of Women's Works); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco (Nov. 21, 1972); Cento Cedar Cinema in San Francisco (February 1-7, 1973 with Threepenny Opera); Surf Theater in San Francisco with The Last Laugh (Jan. 22-23, 1974 “new print”); Wheeler Auditorium in Berkeley (July 24, 1974 with Lonesome); Cento Cedar Cinema in San Francisco (Sept. 18-20, 1975 with The Blue Angel); Wheeler Auditorium in Berkeley (Nov. 9, 1975 with L’Age D’Or); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco (Nov. 7, 1976); Wheeler Auditorium in Berkeley (Feb. 10, 1978 with L’Age D’Or); Sonoma Film Institute in Sonoma State University (Feb. 28, 1979 with The Blue Angel); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Jan. 20, 1980); Roxie in San Francisco with The Blue Angel (Mar. 31, 1980); Noe Valley Ministry in San Francisco (April 11, 1980 with Un Chien Andalou); Castro Theater in San Francisco with A Girl in Every Port (May 2-3, 1980); Castro Theater in San Francisco with The Threepenny Opera (Aug. 28, 1980); Roxie in San Francisco with A Girl in Every Port (Feb. 17-19, 1981); Showcase Cinema in Sacramento with Foolish Wives (Mar. 3, 1981); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Mar. 7, 1981 as part of the series Organ Accompaniment By Robert Vaughn”); Rialto 4 in Berkeley with A Girl in Every Port (Feb. 12-16, 1982); Electric in San Francisco with The Blue Angel (Mar. 10-11, 1982); York Theater in San Francisco (June 22, 1982); UC Theater in Berkeley with A Girl in Every Port (Oct. 25, 1982); Darwin Theater / Sonoma Film Institute at Sonoma State University (Jan. 20, 1983); Showcase Cinema in Sacramento with M. (Feb. 1, 1983); Castro in San Francisco with Diary of a Lost Girl (Oct. 26 – Nov. 3, 1983); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Dec. 7, 1983); Santa Cruz Film Festival in Santa Cruz with A Conversation with Louise Brooks (Jan. 19, 1985); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Jan. 27-28, 1985 with M.); U.C. in Berkeley (Sept. 18, 1985); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Oct. 13, 1985 as part of the series A Tribute to Louise Brooks (1906-1985),” accompanied on piano by Jon Mirsalis); Castro in San Francisco with The Threepenny Opera (Nov. 29, 1985); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Oct. 29, 1986); San Francisco Public Library (main branch) in San Francisco (Dec. 18, 1986); Castro in San Francisco (Feb. 26, 1987 as part of “Vamps” series); U.C. in Berkeley (June 30, 1988); Castro Theater in San Francisco (Nov. 8, 1988); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Nov. 17, 1988); Red Vic in San Francisco (Feb. 13-14, 1990); Castro Theater in San Francisco (Aug. 7, 1990); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Dec. 4, 1990 as part of the series Surrealism and Cinema”); Castro Theater in San Francisco (Apr. 29, 1991); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (Apr. 5, 1992 as part of the series Silent Film Classics”);  Castro in San Francisco (May 11, 1992 with Diary of a Lost Girl); Castro in San Francisco (May 5-8, 1995 accompanied by the Club Foot Orchestra, as part of the San Francisco Film Festival); Castro in San Francisco (Dec. 16-17, 1995 accompanied by the Club Foot Orchestra); Castro in San Francisco (Apr. 2, 1996 with Wings, accompanied on organ by Robert Vaughn); Towne Theatre in San Jose (June 28, 1996 accompanied on organ by Robert Vaughn); Castro in San Francisco (May 18, 1998 as part of Femme Fatale Festival); Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley (May 28, 2000); Stanford in Palo Alto (Sept. 5, 2001); Jezebel’s Joint in San Francisco (Feb. 10, 2003); Castro in San Francisco (July 15, 2006 as part of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, with introductions by Thomas Gladysz and Bruce Conner); Rafael Film Center in San Rafael (Nov. 11, 2006 introduced by Peter Cowie); California in San Jose (Mar. 9, 2007 as part of Cinequest); Castro in San Francisco (July 14, 2112 as part of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival); and Stanford Theater in Palo Alto (Sept. 23, 2016).

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Lotte Eisner in Germany (1980), speaking on Louise Brooks, G.W. Pabst and others

In this short 1980 documentary by Mark Horowitz, the pioneering film archivist and historian Lotte Eisner (1896-1983), who fled Nazi Germany for Paris where she helped establish La Cinémathèque française and rescue numerous prewar films, shares anecdotes about her extraordinary life, including meetings with Louise Brooks, G.W. Pabst, Sergei Eisenstein, Bertolt Bretch and others. 



Friday, July 22, 2016

NEW BOOK: The Promise of Cinema: German Film Theory, 1907-1933

Here's a new book I've just become aware of.... and it looks good! No, it looks great! The book is The Promise of Cinema: German Film Theory, 1907-1933 by Anton Kaes (Editor), Nicholas Baer (Editor), and Michael Cowan (Editor). It is published by the University of California Press.

I was turned on to the book by

Notably, the book includes pieces by G.W. Pabst, including his 1929 essay "Reality of Sound Film." That was the year he made both Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl with Louise Brooks. There are also pieces by Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, Ernst Lubitsch, Emil Jannings, Lotte Eisner, Bertolt Brecht, and Kurt Weill. Siegfried Kracauer contributes pieces on Greta Garbo and Charlie Chaplin.

From the publisher: "Rich in implications for our present era of media change, The Promise of Cinema offers a compelling new vision of film theory. The volume conceives of “theory” not as a fixed body of canonical texts, but as a dynamic set of reflections on the very idea of cinema and the possibilities once associated with it. Unearthing more than 275 early-twentieth-century German texts, this ground-breaking documentation leads readers into a world that was striving to assimilate modernity’s most powerful new medium. We encounter lesser-known essays by Béla Balázs, Walter Benjamin, and Siegfried Kracauer alongside interventions from the realms of aesthetics, education, industry, politics, science, and technology. The book also features programmatic writings from the Weimar avant-garde and from directors such as Fritz Lang and F.W. Murnau. Nearly all documents appear in English for the first time; each is meticulously introduced and annotated. The most comprehensive collection of German writings on film published to date, The Promise of Cinema is an essential resource for students and scholars of film and media, critical theory, and European culture and history."

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!! The editors have also set up an extensive website related to the book which is a must visit. Check it out at http://www.thepromiseofcinema.com/

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REVIEWS:

“This extraordinary book expands all horizons of cinema. Its utopian vision inspires us to imagine a film art for the twenty-first century.”—Alexander Kluge, filmmaker and author of Cinema Stories

“A treasure trove of insights and ideas, this book uncovers the excitement cinema generated as the art form of modernity. Film studies may take years to digest the richness this volume contains—and I believe it will never be quite the same afterward.” —Tom Gunning, author of The Films of Fritz Lang: Allegories of Vision and Modernity

“Opening entirely new pathways to the research and teaching of German film culture, this carefully edited sourcebook reveals the fantastic wealth of early ideas and thoughts on cinema.”—Gertrud Koch, author of Siegfried Kracauer: An Introduction

“On page after page, a vibrant debate, previously lost in archives, comes to life again. This book changes our idea of what cinema was and is.”—Francesco Casetti, author of Eye of the Century: Film, Experience, Modernity

“An indispensable and revelatory resource for all who are exploring the political and aesthetic genealogy of the media culture we inhabit today.”—Jonathan Crary, author of Suspensions of Perception: Attention, Spectacle, and Modern Culture

"This remarkable collection appearing at this historical moment invites us to think about cinema before its first German theorists knew what it might become, just as we wonder what the cinema will become today as it transforms itself all over again." —Jane M. Gaines, author of Contested Culture: The Image, the Voice, and the Law

"Any form of memory worthy of the term ought to address the future even more than the past. The great strength of this collection lies in its ability to make one century speak to another, thereby evoking the future of film today."— Raymond Bellour, author of Between-the-Images


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ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Anton Kaes is Professor of German and Film & Media at the University of California, Berkeley. He has written and edited numerous books, including Shell Shock Cinema and The Weimar Republic Sourcebook, and is coeditor of the Weimar and Now series.

Nicholas Baer is Visiting Assistant Professor of Cinema Studies and Philosophy at Purchase College, State University of New York. He has published many essays on German cinema, film theory, and the philosophy of history.

Michael Cowan is Reader in Film Studies at the University of St. Andrews. He is the author of numerous books and collections including, most recently, Walter Ruttmann and the Cinema of Multiplicity: Avant-garde - Advertising - Modernity

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Video tribute to the films of G.W. Pabst

Found on YouTube, a video tribute to the films of G.W. Pabst. Check out his IMDb page as well.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Berlinale documentaries reflect the power of film

A new documentary, apparently, includes Louise Brooks. In Berlin, a showcase of documentary films at this year's Berlinale illustrates the medium's potential to reclaim the past and envision the future. One of those documentaries is Weimar Touch, which looks at the work of G.W. Pabst and others and the influence they had on film making around the world. That's according to the Deutsche Welle website, which goes on to state:
There are very few cities in the world so inextricably tied to the history, seduction and cathartic power of filmmaking than Berlin.

Late 19th-century film pioneers Max and Emil Skladanowsky invented the Bioscop movie projector here in 1895. Some of the most iconic movie stars of all time, Louise Brooks, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and Asta Nielsen, once padded around the studios in Weissensee, Woltorsdorf and Babelsberg.

Here is where Walter Ruttmann directed "Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis" - based on Dziga Vertov's theory of "Kino-Pravda" ("film truth") that reality can best be represented through cinematic "artificialities." In semi-documentary style, the silent film with a musical score portrays the life of a city.

Ruttmann was not alone in creating masterpieces either. The likes of Fritz Lang, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau and Georg Wilhelm Pabst made their mark in the Golden Age of German cinema during the 1920s as well. And great thinkers such as Walter Benjamin and Siegfried Kracauer grappled with the meaning of these new mechanical, magical, moving images.

And then history took a catastrophic turn - with a Nazi dictatorship that took German cinema into its grip as well.
G.W. Pabst (second from the right) and others associated with Pandora's Box (1929). This picture was taken in 1928, not long after Brooks arrival in Berlin. At first, Pabst envisioned Lulu without bangs or a bob.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Article on director G.W. Pabst

Today, I published an article on the Huffington Post on director G.W. Pabst. His two films with Louise Brooks, Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl, are legend. As mentioned earlier on this blog, on July 15th Bard College in New York state is hosting a G.W. Pabst festival. And screenings of his films are also taking place this month in San Francisco and Berlin. My new article poses the question "Are we in the middle of a Pabst's revival."

Please check out my article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thomas-gladysz/gw-pabst-a-film-director_b_643588.html

Pictured below is Louise Brooks with G.W. Pabst and some of the actors who appeared in Pandora's Box. Pabst is standing next to the actress on her right. This photo was taken in late 1928.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

G.W. Pabst film festival

On July 15th, Bard College in New York state is hosting a G.W. Pabst film festival. Over the course of a month, they will be screening many of the director's best films including the two Pabst made with Louise Brooks, Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl.

Pandora's Box screens on July 22 at 7 pm with piano accompaniment by Ben Model. Diary of a Lost Girl screens on July 25 at 7 pm with piano accompaniment by Donald Sosin.

The complete line-up of films (including Secrets of a Soul and the Threepenny Opera) as well as ticket information can be found here.
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