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

Friday, July 15, 2016

Stacks of Brooks

I was tidying up my bookshelves the other day when I decided to snap a few picture of my many Louise Brooks and Louise Brooks-related book. Here are a few of those snapshots.

The core collection, the books at the heart of the matter.

Editions of Lulu in Hollywood from around the world.
Not pictured is the rare Russian edition which credits the Louise Brooks Society!

Photoplay editions and novelizations, including a rare Empty Saddles.

The copy of Beggars of Life on the far left once belonged to Colleen Moore.

A few more oversized books, including City Girls, with Brooks on the cover.

Most of my Denishawn related books, including copies signed by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn.

If I need to take my books somewhere, I cane use this nifty Lulu tote bag, featuring art
by William Kentridge.

My tote bag is a limited edition from last year, when William Kentridge staged Lulu at the Met.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

The Long and Short of It: Another Vintage article on Bobbed Hair Styles of Silent Film Stars

And another vintage article on bobbed hair which mentions Louise Brooks (see yesterday's post as well). This one is "The Long and Short of It" by Eileen Bourne. . . . The piece begins, "The young girl of today may look to a Garbo, a Gaynor, a Louise Brooks for coiffure guidance. . . ."

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

To Bob or Not to Bob: Perhaps the Definitive Article on Silent Film Star Hair Styles

Ok, here it is, perhaps the definitive article on silent film star hair styles, "To Bob or Not to Bob," by  Rosalin Haffer. Who bobbed first? Who bobbed last? Who bobbed best? Includes eternal combatants Colleen Moore and Louise Brooks.

Tune in tomorrow for another vintage expose on this still raging controversy.



Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Flapperanto - Dialect of the Modern Girl

Here's a vintage article devotees of the Jazz Age should appreciate, "Flapperanto - Dialect of the Modern Girl." I wonder how many words Louise Brooks would have recognized, or even used?


Our Flapper, Our Miss Brooks....

Monday, July 4, 2016

On the Beach with Louise Brooks

It's July 4th and summer has begun. Here are a few images of Louise Brooks at the beach.

As a member of Denishawn, in 1923. Louise Brooks is second from right.
Martha Graham is center. Picture taken on the Atlantic Coast.

As a Paramount actress, in 1927. Louise Brooks is center, with
Sally Blane (left) and Nancy Phillips (right). Pacific Coast.


Southern California in 1927, with Sally Blaine

At the Cavilier Beach Club, Virginia Beach, in 1929.


In a scene from Prix de beaute, filmed in France in 1929.
I would guess this was taken on the Mediterranean.

Friday, July 1, 2016

Pandora's Box starring Louise Brooks screens in Sheffield on July 10

As part of its crowdfunding campaign for its inaugural event, the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival has announced that it will be showing the 1929 Louise Brooks film Pandora's Box not once, but twice  during the course of its month long series of screenings. Lillian Henley will accompany the film on piano.

The Festival is set to take place July 1 through July 30, with one of the Pandora's Box screenings set to take place on July 10 at 6 pm at the Showroom Cinema in Sheffield.

More information HERE (Facebook) and HERE (website).



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