Saturday, July 8, 2006

SFSFF article

There is a good article detailing the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in tomorrow's San Francisco Chronicle. The article can be found here.

Friday, July 7, 2006

Lulu in Boston

There is an article about Pandora's Box in today's Boston Globe. The article, by Wesley Morris, is titled "Decades later, 'Pandora's Box' is still enticing."
"No offense to the cast of Superman Returns, but you'd have your work cut out for you trying to find a more heroic star at a movie theater this weekend than Louise Brooks, who in 1929 showed up as Lulu, the free-spirited single woman inPandora's Box, G.W. Pabst's vital and timeless silent tragedy. It wasn't merely that Brooks, with her short, dark, razor-sharp haircut, had screen presence. She had her own gravitational pull, which even today defies resistance. And, in so many ways, that's the force powering this movie, which runs at the Brattle today through Monday in a pristine new print."
The article can be read in full here. Do check it out.

-----------------

From Boston's WeeklyDig.com (which can be found online here)

Pandora’s Box  //  July 7, 2006 - July 10, 2006

Helen of Troy’s face may have launched a thousand ships, but Louise Brooks’s Lulu made men buy expensive love nests, commit suicide, break off engagements, gamble their money away, commit brutal murders and even join the Salvation Army. And that’s just the first half hour. The Brattle is unveiling a new 35mm print of this 1929 German masterpiece, which includes a scene where Lulu encounters cinema’s very first lesbian.   $9.00

Brattle Theatre
40 Brattle St.
Harvard Sq.
Cambridge, MA 02138
http://www.brattlefilm.org
(617) 876 - 6837

Thursday, July 6, 2006

National Film Registry

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington seeks nominations for the  2006 National Film Registry. To be eligible for the Registry, a film  must be at least 10 years old and be "culturally, historically, or  aesthetically significant." The number of public votes a film receives is a significant factor weighed by the Librarian and members of the National Film Preservation Board during the selection process.

Congress first established the National Film Registry in the 1988  National Film Preservation Act, and most recently extended the Registry  with passage of the National Film Preservation Act of 2005 (part of the  Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005, Public Law 109-9).  Along with mandating continuing implementation of a plan to save the  American film heritage, this law authorizes the Librarian of Congress  (after reviewing public suggestions and consulting extensively with  film experts and the 44 members and alternates of the National Film  Preservation Board) to select up to 25 films each year for inclusion in  the Registry.

The 425 films chosen during the first seventeen years illustrate the  vibrant diversity of American film-making, and range from well-known classics (CasablancaThe GeneralSunrise, and A Night at the Opera)  to landmark independent, documentary and avant-garde masterpieces  (Nothing But a ManLouisiana Story, and Meshes of the Afternoon).  More information can be found at: http://www.loc.gov/film/filmnfr.html

To be considered for the 2006 National Film Registry, votes should be  submitted on or before September 1, 2006.  For consideration, please  forward recommendations (limit 50 titles per year) via email to:  s...@loc.gov.    Email is strongly preferred given security issues on Capitol Hill and  resulting extensive delays in postal delivery. To submit via regular mail:

National Film Registry
Attn: Steve Leggett
Library of Congress, MBRS Division
Washington, D.C. 20540

----------------------------------------------------------------------

I am going to recommend Beggars of Life and The Show Off.

Wednesday, July 5, 2006

SFSFF update

Good news for those of you planning on attending the San Francisco Silent Film Festival next weekend. Just added to Saturday night's program are rare two-strip Technicolor trailers from Louise Brooks' lost film The American Venus, which will be shown prior to Pandora's Box.

Monday, July 3, 2006

Naked Tango

The Tallahassee Film Society will be screening Naked Tango on July 14 - 15. Set in the 1920's, the film features Mathilda May as a Louise Brooks inspired character named Alba. The event is sponsored by the Tallahassee Film Society and Argentine Tango Society of Tallahassee. (There will be Tango dancing as well.) TFS will also be screening Something Wild - another film with a Louise Brooks inspired character. That screening takes place in August. For more info, check out the TFS website.

Sunday, July 2, 2006

Pandora's Box screens in San Francisco

The 11th annual San Francisco Silent Film festival will take place July 14-16, 2006 at the historic Castro Theater in San Francisco. They have a great line-up of films and special guests (see www.silentfilm.org for more info). Among the films they will be showing is Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks. Bruce Conner, the celebrated film maker and artist, will introduce the film. Conner grew up in Wichita, Kansas - and has a story to tell about almost taking dancing lessons from the actress. (Any fans of Bruce Conner's work out there?) I will also be introducing the film, and will try to say something intelligent. (Pandora's Box will show on Saturday night.)

Louise Brooks’ fans will want to attend this event for a number of reasons. The festival will be screening a brand new 35mm print of Pandora's Box. If you've never seen it on the big screen, this is a great opportunity to do so. And, as well, there will be a special selection of Brooks-related music played in the theater prior to the screening. I will be programming the music, and can promise some rarities including the theme songs from Beggars of Life and Prix de Beaute. I believe there will also be some sort of informational slide show about Brooks prior to the screening. And that’s not all…. There will also be a very cool Festival t-shirt for sale featuring Louise Brooks. I can’t wait to get one. (For those keeping track, the glossy fliers for the event open up into a mini-poster featuring the actress.) The program for the festival should have some neat stuff inside as well.

If you want to say “hey” (please do), I will generally be positioned at the book table in the lobby throughout the festival. I am sure the table will have some LB stuff for sale – books, buttons, postcards, etc…. I have also heard from Hugh Neely, who directed the excellent documentary Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu. He will be at the festival. The table will have a few of his DVD’s for sale at reasonable prices. (I understand the Louise Brooks documentary sells for big bucks online.) Neely also directed the Clara Bow, Marion Davies and Mary Pickford films – all of which aired on TCM. The Festival is also showing Davies and Pickford films.

Saturday, July 1, 2006

On Revivals

Film critic Jeffrey M. Anderson just published an article about revivals - older films currently being shown around the country. His thoughts appeared on Cinematical - a film blog. Anderson had this to say.
I'd like to take a moment, if I may, to talk about revivals. It's a dirty word to most critics, and an even greater number of editors. "Why should we bother reviewing an old movie?" they ask. You'd think it would be a prerequisite for the job, but the sad truth is that most critics have very little notion of film history; they're out there flying blind. . . .

There are four older movies currently on the charts: Carol Reed's The Fallen Idol (1948) is on 2 screens with a $104,000 gross after 20 weeks. Jean-Pierre Melville's Army of Shadows (1969) is on 6 screens with a gross of $330,000 after 9 weeks. Claude Sautet's Classe tous risques (1960) is hanging on after 30 weeks with $91,000, and G.W. Pabst's Pandora's Box (1928) just opened on 1 screen. . . . 

Right now, I can't think of a better current release than Melville's Army of Shadows (except maybe Hou Hsiao-hsien's Three Times). It's an exciting, if grim and unflagging portrait of war and the ultimate fruitlessness of it all. Its more brave and clever than nearly any war movie made since. Similarly, Pandora's Box is one of the most vivid, luminous pictures from the silent era, thanks mostly to the presence of Ms. Louise Brooks. Each time I see the film, I find it difficult to suppress a gasp when she appears on screen. She's still more striking than many of today's stars. . . .
Powered By Blogger