Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Louise Brooks and Volker Kutscher’s Babylon Berlin (the book and the TV series)

Volker Kutscher’s bestselling work of crime fiction, Babylon Berlin, has just been published in the United States by Picador. The book was an instant hit in Germany. Part of a mutli-book series, it was awarded the Berlin Krimi-Fuchs Crime Writers Prize in 2011, and has sold more than one million copies worldwide.

Its American cover (seen here) is nearly identical to the English edition: both feature an image of the iconic Louise Brooks.

This book is the basis for the popular European TV series Babylon Berlin produced by Sky TV which has just debuted yesterday in the United States on Netflix (with subtitles). Vogue magazine calls it "the most bingeable new drama since The Crown."

National Public Radio ran a good piece on the show, "Germany's 'Babylon Berlin' Crime Series Is Like 'Cabaret' On Cocaine," which concludes "Babylon Berlin captures the dark glamour of a briefly exhilarating time between the wars. And for today's Berliners — faced with the city's steady, sterile gentrification — the show offers a welcome dose of escapism." Listen to the NPR piece below:

According to the publisher, "Babylon Berlin is the first book in the international-bestselling series from Volker Kutscher that centers on Detective Gereon Rath caught up in a web of drugs, sex, political intrigue, and murder in Berlin as Germany teeters on the edge of Nazism."

And according to the sometimes reliable Kirkus Reviews, the books has been "been wildly popular in Germany ... an excellent police procedural that cleverly captures the dark and dangerous period of the Weimar Republic before it slides into the ultimate evil of Nazism." Likewise, Publishers Weekly stated, "James Ellroy fans will welcome Kutscher’s first novel and series launch, a fast-paced blend of murder and corruption sent in 1929 Berlin. Kutscher keeps the surprises coming and doesn't flinch at making his lead morally compromised." The Sunday Times (London) concurred, stating the book “Conjures up the dangerous decadence of the Weimar years, with blood on the Berlin streets and the Nazis lurking menacingly in the wings.”

Writer Paul French, who I had the pleasure of meeting a few years back when he was touring for Midnight in Peking, has written a piece on LitHub titled, "How a German Detective Series Becomes an International Hit." It sums up the phenomenon that the books and TV series has become in Europe and as it might become in America (a la Philip Kerr, Joseph Kanon and Alan Furst). Give it a read.

So, you may ask, what has all this got to do with Louise Brooks? Very little, I am afraid, except that the story begins in 1929 and the actress - an icon of Weimar German cinema through her roles in two 1929 G.W. Pabst films, Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl - adorns the cover of this bestselling book and no doubt helped propel at least a few sales. Eugene R. Richee's iconic portrait of Brooks also lends a bit of atmosphere.

And, as Paul French explains in his LitHub piece, the American publisher knew they had a good thing keeping the Brooks cover, published in Scotland by Sandstone. "It’s also a tribute to Davidson’s clever marketing that Morrison has opted to stick with the cover Sandstone commissioned from Brighton-based designer Mark Swann. It’s a cover redolent of the period and the contents and has proved to be a great favorite of bookshop window decorators the length and breadth of the British Isles."

Below is a musical video derived from the television series which gives a sense of what this stylish show has to offer.

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Media History Digital Library celebrates Pandora's Box

The Media History Digital Library, a 'swonderful site if there ever was one (and one which I have spent hours and hours going through) celebrates the anniversary of the release of Pandora's Box (1929), the classic G.W. Pabst directed film starring Louise Brooks. The film debuted in Berlin. Here is what their Facebook page said said:

"Today marks the anniversary of the release of G.W. Pabst's Pandora's Box (1929). Even though the film starred American actress Louise Brooks, it did not have a mainstream release in the United States, but the British journal Close-Up did a full spread on the film: http://archive.org/stream/closeup04macp#page/n31/mode/2up"

Be sure and flip through the pages linked to for more pictures and articles. Close-Up had a great deal of interest and a good deal of affection for Brooks (though they would never admit the latter).




 I'll be keeping this special day and special film and special actress in my thoughts.....


Monday, January 29, 2018

Spotlighting Louise Brooks: From the Kansas Prairie to the German Silver Screen

Announcing an important event: "Spotlighting Louise Brooks: From the Kansas Prairie to the German Silver Screen"

The German Program in the Department of Modern Languages is proud to present: "Spotlighting Louise Brooks: From the Kansas Prairie to the German Silver Screen" on Saturday, February 24th, from 10a-4p.

This event is free, open to all, and appropriate for all ages. It will take place on the K-State campus in Justin Hall, room 109. Free parking is available in the lot behind the building.

Throughout the day, participants will examine the unique role Louise Brooks, a silent film star and native Kansan, had in shaping ideas about women’s roles in society through her work in silent film, particularly in Weimar Germany in the 1920s and 1930s.

 Please contact Nichole Neuman (nneuman@ksu.edu) with any questions. Principal funding for this program is provided by the Kansas Humanities Council, a nonprofit cultural organization connecting communities with history, traditions, and ideas to strengthen civic life. Additional funding provided by DOW Center for Multicultural and Community Studies at K-State Libraries.

 Event schedule:

    10:00-10:45: Welcome and presentation of silent student films

    11:00-1:30: Diary of a Lost Girl (GW Pabst, 1929) with live accompaniment by Matthew De Gennaro and a reception with light hors d'oeuvres to follow

    1:30-2:15: Moderated panel 2:30-4:00: Talk and Q+A session with Dr. Richard McCormick (University of Minnesota)
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Want to  learn more about Louise Brooks and Diary of a Lost Girl? Check out this 2010 Louise Brooks Society publication, the "Louise Brooks edition" of The Diary of a Lost Girl, available wherever fine books are sold. Not long after this book was published, noted UK scholar Elizabeth Boa (University of Nottingham) said "It was such a pleasure to come upon your well documented and beautifully presented edition. "

Sunday, January 28, 2018

Pandora's Box with Louise Brooks screens in Manchester, England today!

A 35mm print of Pandora's Box will be shown at HOME in Manchester, England on January 28. That's today! This special event will feature live music by Stephen Horne and an introduction by Pamela Hutchinson, author of the terrific new book on the film from BFI Film Classics. More information HERE.


Pandora’s Box Live Accompaniment + Intro

The film will be introduced by Pamela Hutchinson, freelance writer and author of the BFI Film Classics volume on Pandora’s Box and will feature live accompaniment from Stephen Horne, silent film musician and composer.

Film details

One of the masters of early German cinema, G. W. Pabst had an innate talent for discovering actresses (including Greta Garbo). And perhaps none of his female stars shone brighter than Kansas native and onetime Ziegfeld girl Louise Brooks, whose legendary persona was defined by Pabst’s lurid, controversial melodrama Pandora’s Box. Sensationally modern, the film follows the downward spiral of the fiery, brash, yet innocent showgirl Lulu, whose sexual vivacity has a devastating effect on everyone she comes in contact with. Daring and stylish, Pandora’s Box is one of silent cinema’s great masterworks and a testament to Brooks’s dazzling individuality.

 

Friday, January 26, 2018

Diary of a Lost Girl starring Louise Brooks Screens in Germany on Jan 26

The sensational 1929 Louise Brooks film, Diary of a Lost Girl, will be shown in Munich, Germany at the Munich Film Museum on Friday, January 26th. That's today! The information below can be found on the Suddeutsche Zeitung website.

Filmtipp des Tages Tagebuch der Unterdrückung





Missbraucht und geschwängert von einem Angestellten des Vaters, abgeschoben in ein Erziehungsheim, geflohen und untergekommen in einem Bordell. Georg Wilhelm Pabst verfilmte mit "Tagebuch einer Verlorenen" einen Roman von Margarete Böhme. Ein Angriff auf bürgerliche Moralheuchelei, der dann auch bis zur Unkenntlichkeit zensiert wurde und erst vor wenigen Jahren rekonstruiert werden konnte. Zum zweiten Mal nach der "Büchse der Pandora" drehte Pabst mit Louise Brooks in der Rolle der Thymian. Deren Schauspielkunst von unverstellter Natürlichkeit nutzt er, um ihr als Kontrast die militärisch rhythmisierten Unterdrückungsmethoden des Erziehungsheims gegenüberzustellen. Die Gewalt, erst ausgehend vom Vergewaltiger des jungen Mädchens, erweist sich schnell als institutionalisiert.

Tagebuch einer Verlorenen, D 1929, Regie: G. W. Pabst, Freitag, 26. Januar, 18.30 Uhr, Live-Musik: Sabrina Zimmermann & Mark Pogolski, Filmmuseum, Sankt-Jakobs-Platz 1


or

Movie Tip of the Day Journal of Oppression

Abused and impregnated by an employee of the father, deported to an education center, fled and found in a brothel. Georg Wilhelm Pabst filmed a novel by Margarete Böhme with "Diary of a Lost". An attack on bourgeois moral hypocrisy, which was then censored beyond recognition and could only be reconstructed a few years ago. For the second time after the "Pandora's Box" Pabst shot with Louise Brooks in the role of thyme. He uses her acting art of undisguised naturalness to juxtapose her with the militarily rhythmic oppression methods of the education center. The violence, first starting from the rapist of the young girl, quickly turns out to be institutionalized.

Diary of a Lost , D 1929 , directed by GW Pabst, Friday, 26 . January, 6.30 pm, live music: Sabrina Zimmermann & Mark Pogolski, Filmmuseum, Sankt-Jakobs-Platz 1

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Want to  learn more? Check out this 2010 Louise Brooks Society publication, the "Louise Brooks edition" of The Diary of a Lost Girl, available wherever fine books are sold.


Thursday, January 25, 2018

A new cover on John Kobal's Hollywood Glamor Portraits: 145 Photos of Stars, 1926-1949

John Kobal's classic pictorial, Hollywood Glamor Portraits: 145 Photos of Stars, 1926-1949, was first published in 1976 by Dover Publications, the same publisher that issued Marshall Deutelbaum's Image on the Art and Evolution of the Film: Photographs and Articles from the Magazine of the International Museum of Photography (1979), another important early title in the emergence of Brooks' reputation. (Dover also published Tom Tierney's Movie Star Vamps and Scamps Paper Dolls (2003), a book I recently wrote about.)



Kobal's book was issued while Louise Brooks was still alive; notably, this popular, nearly once ubiquitous work, was one of the earliest books to feature the actress on the cover. I still have my old second-hand copy, purchased sometime, if I recall correctly, in the mid-1990s.

I just noticed that Kobal's book has been reissued with a new, slightly different, cover (The new cover is pictured above. The original cover is pictured left.) The book features 145 full-page black-and-white photos of well known actors and actors dating from from 1926 to 1949 — including Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Hedy Lamarr, Marlene Dietrich, Robert Montgomery, Marlon Brando, Veronica Lake and others — 94 stars in all including Louise Brooks.

John Kobal (born Ivan Kobaly, 1940 – 1991) was an Austrian-born, British based, film and phot historian historian responsible for The Kobal Collection, a commercial photograph library related to the film industry. According to Wikipedia, "Kobal had a short-lived career as an actor in early 1960s London. He was an inveterate collector: magazines, postcards, pictures, any movie memorabilia. It was a chance encounter with Marlene Dietrich in Canada in the 1950s that led Kobal to develop his affection for the Golden Age of Hollywood. He used his contacts from a BBC appointment in New York from 1964 to acquire Hollywood related photographs, eventually numbering about 4,500 images dating from the end of the silent era to about 1960. The material was then considered of little value."

Kobal was also the author of 30 books, and was responsible for organising the first exhibition of Hollywood related photographs at London's Victoria and Albert Museum in 1974. The critic John Russell Taylor has described Kobal's contribution to film studies as "unique"

Kobal and Brooks were friendly. They exchanged letters, and Kobal interviewed Brooks at length. That exceptional interview, which detailed many little known incidents in Brooks' life, appeared in Kobal's People Will Talk (1986). It is essential reading. The actress' name appears on the cover of the original hardback editions, and an image of Brooks appears on the cover of this paperback edition.


Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Louise Brooks' film Beggars of Life shows on Long Island TOMORROW

The riveting 1928 silent film, Beggars of Life, starring Louise Brooks, will be shown at the Cinema Arts Centre on Wednesday, January 24th at 7:30 pm. Part of the "Anything But Silent" series, this Long Island screening will feature live musical accompaniment by the one-and-only Ben Model. More information about this event can be found HERE.


--- Organized by Cinema Arts Centre, a 501(c)3 organization and Long Island's only not-for-profit independent movie theater, offering the most compelling American and international films today, as well as many unique programs.
 
Louise Brooks’ best American film was made shortly before she left for Germany and found everlasting fame in Pandora’s Box. Brooks plays a young woman who flees her cruel stepfather and, dressed in boy’s clothing, rides the rails with hobos. Based on the memoirs of rough-and-tumble writer Jim Tully, which describes his hardscrabble existence on the rails during the recession years of the 1890s and 1900s, this long-thought-lost silent classic features an unforgettable turn by Wallace Beery as the hobo Oklahoma Red and dazzling location photography set aboard speeding trains. Director William Wellman was in top form for the movie, basking in praise for his work on the Oscar-winning Wings (1927), although Louise Brooks felt he pushed her to take unnecessary risks–especially during a stunt in which she was nearly sucked under a train’s wheels. Nonetheless, Brooks lauded the director for “how hard he studied his script and prepared for his day’s work, how he always did his best, [and] how sure and fast he worked.” The new restoration of Beggars of Life is a triumphant resurrection for a classic of the silent era. (USA, 1928, 100 min., NR, English| Dir. William A. Wellman)
 
Want to learn more about the film? Last Spring saw the release of my new book, Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film, and this past Summer saw the release of a new DVD / Blu-ray of the film from Kino Lorber. If you haven't secured your own copy of either the book or the DVD / Blu-ray, why not do so today?

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