Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts

Thursday, March 16, 2023

Exhibiting Louise Brooks Around the World

Louise Brooks is a 20th century icon, and a magnet for meaning. Just recently, I became aware of two exhibits which make use of Louise Brooks' name and likeness. 

One of them, "Weimar Female: Women and Gender Diversity in Modern Cinema (1918 – 1933)," runs March 29 to November 12, 2023 at the Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum for Film and Television, Berlin in Germany. More on the exhibition can be found HERE, though for more Louise Brooks you should also check out the Deutsche Kinemathek homepage.

According to the Deutsche Kinemathek website, "The exhibition is dedicated to gender diversity and women in the cinema of the Weimar Republic. Gender reversal, self-determination and homosexuality were themes in the film, but the most popular was the "New Woman": To this day, her type stands for modernity and breaking out of convention, he lives on in series like Babylon Berlin  or  Eldorado  KaDeWe . But who were the real New Women? After the First World War, they confidently took advantage of the professional opportunities, also in the up-and-coming film industry. Their stories are told with numerous exhibits and film examples." 

On Instagram, I also came across this stunning image promoting the exhibit. It depicts Alice Roberts and Louise Brooks in what can only be described as large format! From what I gather, around 150 additional exhibits were brought together exclusively for the Frankfurt presentation of the exhibit. I would love to hear from anyone who is able to check out either exhibit.


And the next day, elsewhere on the continent, Louise Brooks is once again the poster girl for an educational event in Spain. I also found this image and announcement on Instagram. The description states, "Literature and cinema once again go hand in hand where the same language is intertwined. A review of the narrative and visual history where the protagonists are women, including the career of Alice Guy-Blaché, Mary Pickford, Dorothy Azner, María Falconetti and Louise Brooks. Luis Romero Siluto will recreate a dreamlike atmosphere that will make us remember great moments of the genre. An unmissable date for great lovers of the seventh art. To register, contact the email: culturapilar@santacruzdelapalma.es or the contact telephone number: 922 42 00 07 (Department of Culture)."


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.

Monday, July 12, 2021

New release - Beggars of Life out on DVD and Blu-ray in Spain

I've just noticed that the 1928 film, Beggars of Life, has just been released on DVD and Blu-ray in Spain under the title Mendigos de Vida, which was the title the film was originally shown under in Spain and much of Latin America. 


I don't know much about this release except for what I can gather from the backs of the DVD and Blu-ray version. Though released as both a silent and sound film in the late 1920s, this new Spanish release is a silent film. It runs 81 minutes, and includes both Castilian and English subtitles. (The Kino Lorber version, the best there is, also runs 81 minutes, while the Grapevine DVD is said to run 83 minutes.) There is no indication that there is any kind of musical accompaniment, though Karl Hajos, the original composer for the film, is credited on the back of the release. (Should anyone get a hold of this version, I would be interested to know if there is any sort of musical soundtrack.)

Pictured below are the front the backs for both the DVD and Blu-ray releases. I show them both because they are slightly different in layout. Another curiosity is the fact that Wallace Beery, the star of the film, has been eliminated from the packaging imagery (though he is listed in the credits and given top billing).

Here is a newspaper advertisement for the film dating from 1930 when it showed at the Palacio de la Musica in Madrid, Spain. Louise Brooks is given second billing, with Wallace Beery listed third. Richard Arlen, who shares a significant amount of screen time with Brooks and was likely considered better looking than Beery by the senoritas, is given top billing

Beggars of Life is the subject of a chapter in my forthcoming two volume work, Around the World with Louise Brooks, which looks at the way this and other of the actress' films were received all over the world. The acclaimed William Wellman film was also the subject of my 2017 book, Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film, which can be purchased on amazon all around the world.




Thursday, February 28, 2019

Around the World with Louise Brooks - a Postcard Biography from Spain

Here is something you don't see everyday, a Spanish cigarette card with a brief biography of the actress -- her identified as Luisa Brooks - on the reverse. (Generally speaking cigarette cards are smaller than postcards. They were, as you might guess, tucked into a pack of cigarettes.) This card dates to around 1930, perhaps 1931. (Can does reader of this blog know the history of these particular cards?This one is series K, number 19.)


I have transcribed the text on the back. In Spanish, it reads: "Linda y gentil como ninguna, la belle Luisita se ha especializado en los papeles picarescos, en los cuales no hay que decir que convence al mas esceptico en gustos cinematograficos. Sin traspasar nunca los limites del descararo, Luisa Brookss la muchacha moderna, atrevida y valiente, que lo mismo conduce un automovil a toda marcha, que se declara al hombre qu le gusta y lo rapta, si es preciso, que sostiene un pugilato de boxeo con el atrevido que osa ofrenderla. La vimospor vez primera en la pantalla en "La Venus americana" y mas tarde se mostro gran actriz en "Amalos y dejalos" y otras producciones del mismo genero de fina comedia de salon. Ultimamente ha interpretado "mendigos de Vida", en la que hace un papel sentimal, "Quien la mato?", intrigante produccion de crimen y misterio."

My rough Google assisted translation reads: "Cute and gentile like no other, pretty Luisita has specialized in picaresque roles, in which it is not necessary to say that she convinces the most skeptical of cinematic tastes. Without ever going beyond shameful limits, Luisa Brooks the modern, daring and brave girl, who drives a car at full speed, declaring to the man what she likes and kidnaps him, if necessary, that holds a boxing match with the daring of one who dares to offer it. We saw her for the first time on the screen in "The American Venus" and later she was a great actress in "Love Em and Leave Em" and other productions of the same genre of fine salon comedy. Lately she has interpreted "Beggars of Life", in which she plays a sentimental role, "The Canary Murder Case", an intriguing production of crime and mystery."

This card and dozens of others from across Europe, as well as cards from Africa and South America, are depicted in my forthcoming book, Around the World with Louise Brooks. Please see the four earlier posts for even more from this new book.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Fantasio, Prix de Beaute in Spain, mainly


Besides Iceland and Turkey (see previous post), the 1930 Louise Brooks' film, Prix de Beaute, was also popular in Spain, where it showed in various cities. Depicted above is a newspaper advertisement for the film.

Louise Brooks herself was also apparently somewhat popular. Below, she is depicted for no apparent reason on the cover of La Prensa, a major daily newspaper. This clip is from 1928. Louise Brooks is described as an "American Artist." Wow.


Friday, February 19, 2010

Lulu en Hollywood

As a kind of follow-up to an earlier post regarding Louise Brooks' image  having been included in European store windows  . . . . My attention was recently called to this online visual tour of small town bookstores in Spain. A familiar title, a familiar face can be found in the tenth image, which I've also included below in a smaller version.


I would love to hear from anyone around the world who knows of any similar images.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

A couple of days late

Apparently, Pandora's Box was shown on Friday. I just noticed this Spanish-language newsgroup posting. I am not sure if this screening took place in Argentina, or Spain. Does anyone know?

Viernes 19, 22.30 hs.
Ciclo de Cine Alemán-Cine Mudo-Música en vivo
"Lulu o la Caja de Pandora" (1928/29) de Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Centro Cultural Estación Provincial
Calle 17 y 71 - La Plata
Entada: libre

La obra que lanzó a la fama a Louise Brooks y la obra maestra de su director, Georg Wilhelm Pabst. Una obra clave de la Historia del Cine. Louise Brooks, que se impuso a actrices de la talla de Marlene Dietrich, interpreta a Lulú, una mujer magnética y hechizante, auténtica femme fatale, que hace que todas las personas que la rodean caigan rendidos ante su encanto, y con ello, caigan en la perdición. Todo ello dotado de una ambigüedad que nos hace dudar si Lulú es una mujer que se aprovecha de su belleza, o si, por el contrario, no es consciente de ella y son los demás los que se aprovechan de ella. A la maravillosa interpretación de Louise Brooks se une el extraordinario oficio de su director, el reputado Georg Wilhelm Pabst, que impregna esta película de una sobriedad y de un realismo que dota a todo el film de una verosimilitud y de un ritmo inteligente que sigue vigente 75 años después.

My browser translation utility renders it, somewhat akwardly, thus:

Friday 19, 22,30 hs.
Cycle of Cinema Alema'n-Cine Mudo-Mu'sica live
"Lulu or the Box of Pandora" (1928/29) of Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Cultural Center Provincial Station
71 street 17 and - the Silver
Cost: free

The work that sent to the fame to Louise Brooks and the masterpiece of his director, Georg Wilhelm Pabst. A key work of the History of the Cinema. Louise Brooks, who prevailed actresses of the stature of Marlene Dietrich, interprets Lulu, a magnetic and bewitching woman, authentic femme fatale, that does that all the people who surround it fall tired before his enchantment, and with it, they fall in the perdición. All it equipped with an ambiguity that makes us doubt if Lulu is one woman who takes advantage of her beauty, or if, on the contrary, she is not conscious of her and those are the others that take advantage of her. To wonderful interpretation of Louise Brooks is united the extraordinary one office of its director, the reputed Georg Wilhelm Pabst, that impregnates this film of a sobriety and a realism that it equips to all film of a probability and an intelligent rate that follows effective 75 years later.
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