Louise Brooks Retrospective at La cinémathèque française

La cinémathèque française in Paris is mounting a major retrospective of the films of Louise Brooks which is set to take place later this month, from September 17 through September 24. The 10 program series will feature 9 of the actress's feature films, along with a 10th program featuring the surviving fragments from three of Brooks' other films. There is, as well, a 60 minute discussion about Brooks with Professor Marion Polirsztok, moderated by Marién Gómez of the Cinémathèque française. More about this event, including times, venues, and ticket availability, can be found HERE.

Notably, this is the first retrospective of Brooks' films since the recent preservation of four of the actress' surviving / fragmentary films, each of which was included on the 2026 release Focus on Louise Brooks, from Flicker Alley. AND, for at least a couple three of these films, it will mark their first showing in Paris in 99 or 100 years!

The brief introductory statement says, in translation, "One of the legendary figures of 1920s cinema, celebrated as much for her modern acting style as for her scandalous aura—the ultimate embodiment of the freedom and avant-garde spirit of the Roaring Twenties. Once a Hollywood queen and a shooting star of European cinema (*Diary of a Lost Girl*, *Pandora's Box*), she reinvented herself as a writer before fading into obscurity on the eve of World War II—until Henri Langlois resurrected the fallen star in 1955, opening his tribute at the Cinémathèque Française with the definitive declaration: 'There is no Garbo, there is no Dietrich: there is only Louise Brooks!'"

Appropriately, the retrospective's overture screening is the restored sound version of Prix de beauté. (Too bad they are not showing the silent version as well, as a coda.) The retrospective concludes with a three film program of the aforementioned three film fragments from Focus on Louise Brooks. Otherwise, here is the schedule of films: the descriptive text comes from the La cinémathèque française website, and is given in English translation.

September 17

Prix de beauté
Augusto Genina 
France / 1930 / 99 min / DCP / Restored version 
With Louise Brooks, Georges Charlia, Henri Bandini. A young typist wins a beauty contest that sparks jealousy and desire. Originally written by René Clair and directed by Augusto Genina, *Prix de beauté* bears the fascinating traces of the transition from silent to sound film, blending silence, voices, and a sense of melancholic modernity.
 

"She represents the intelligence of screen acting; she is the perfect embodiment of photogenie; she alone encapsulates everything the cinema of the late silent era sought: extreme naturalness and extreme simplicity. Her art is so pure that it becomes invisible." (Henri Langlois)

September 18

It's the Old Army Game
A. Edward Sutherland
USA / 1926 / 70 min / 35mm unique print / French intertitles
Based on the play *The Comic Supplement* by J. P. McEvoy and W. C. Fields.

With W. C. Fields, Louise Brooks, Blanche Ring. 
Musical accompaniment by Arno Dedeycker.

 

A pharmacist sees his daily life descend into chaos as he deals with a parade of intrusive customers and passing con artists. Drawing on W. C. Fields’s vaudeville routines, the film offers a mischievous tale filled with gags and absurd situations, all illuminated by the singular presence of Louise Brooks. A slapstick whirlwind that is as chaotic as it is delightful.

 

The Street of Forgotten Men

Herbert Brenon

USA / 1925 / 75 min / DCP / French intertitles

With Percy Marmont, Mary Brian, Neil Hamilton.

 

In the Bowery, a con man lives by his wits and pretenses—until a young woman he has protected finds herself in danger. Herbert Brenon grounds his story in an urban setting rich in colorful detail and, amidst the deceptions, sketches a path toward possible redemption. It also marks the debut of Louise Brooks as a spirited companion.

 

September 19

A Girl in Every Port
Howard Hawks
USA / 1928 / 77 min / 35mm / French intertitles
With Victor McLaglen, Robert Armstrong, Louise Brooks.
Musical accompaniment by Medhi Telhaoui

Working from a screenplay he wrote himself, Howard Hawks directs Robert Armstrong and Victor McLaglen in a comedy about male friendship strained by the opposite sex. Underlying the story is the ambiguous relationship between two men—a theme Hawks would revisit repeatedly throughout his career. Opposite them—and calling the shots for a time—is Louise Brooks, on loan from Paramount for the occasion. Hawks chose this "pretty, rebellious girl" for her looks and determination. She brings an avant-garde edge to the film, and her role as a "bad girl" caught the eye of Pabst, who saw in her his future *Lulu*. *A Girl in Every Port* is "conceived in the present yet identifies with the past," notes Henri Langlois. It is a melodrama tinged with humor—resolutely modern and, for Hawks, seminal. Also known by the title *Poings de fer, cœur d'or* (Iron Fists, Heart of Gold). 

Discussion with Marion Polirsztok
Moderated by Marién Gómez 60 min
It is generally understood that Louise Brooks’s life and career were profoundly shaped by the two German films she made with Pabst. "In Berlin," she wrote, "I became an actress." But what was she in Hollywood? An "anti-star," as the 1977 book dedicated to her suggests? Revisiting *A Girl in Every Port* offers a chance to rediscover Louise *before* Lulu—to see the image, the roles, and the femininity she embodied within the American film industry of the late 1920s. —  Marion Polirsztok Marion Polirsztok is an Associate Professor of Film Studies at Rennes 2 University. Marién Gómez is a Cultural Activities Coordinator at the Cinémathèque française.

Beggars of Life
William A. Wellman
USA / 1928 / 82 min / DCP / French intertitles / Restored version
Based on the novel *Apache Rising* by Julian Johnson. *Beggars of Life* by Jim Tully.
Starring Wallace Beery, Richard Arlen, Louise Brooks.
Screening presented by Marion Polirsztok. Musical accompaniment by Kolia Chabanier

After killing her attacker, an orphan girl hits the road across the Midwest with a charming drifter. They become entangled with a band of stowaways led by the fearsome Oklahoma Red. Adapted from the novel by Jim Tully—a literary classic chronicling the hobos who secretly rode freight trains—this is a raw, realistic slice-of-life portrait of the vagrants of the 1890s recession. Beyond Wellman’s masterful direction, the film—released a year before the 1929 crash—derives its power from its cast (featuring real-life drifters) and a deeply moving Louise Brooks in one of her finest roles.

Loulou / Die Büchse der Pandora
Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Germany / 1929 / 134 min / DCP / French intertitles / Restored version
Based on the plays *Pandora's Box* (*Die Büchse der Pandora*) and *Earth Spirit* (*Erdgeist*) by Frank Wedekind.
With Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, Franz Lederer, Carl Goetz.

Refusing to bow to the social conventions that seek to confine her, Lulu moves through various social circles and desires, living for passion and pleasure. Drawing on Frank Wedekind’s plays, Pabst crafts a lucid tragedy—a dance of love and death—that exposes the hypocrisies of a society obsessed with controlling the body. A blend of innocence and sensuality, Louise Brooks’s modern performance—with her bobbed hair and intense gaze—elevates a masterpiece of latent eroticism, where fascination and destruction go hand in hand, cementing the birth of an enduring cinematic icon.

"No one captured the feverish atmosphere backstage on the opening night of a grand revue quite like Pabst: the dizzying haste, the seemingly aimless coming and going, the press of bodies as sets are shifted about, the stage seeming to tilt askew during the acts, the entrances and exits, the performers’ eagerness to take their bows amidst the applause, the rivalry, the camaraderie, and the humor—that bewildering mix of prop men and electricians at work, artistic aspiration, colorful spectacle, and easy sensuality. A dazzling display, a heated atmosphere, and sensuality awash in waves of light—shimmering on lamé curtains, gleaming on helmets and armor, and casting a pearly glow over the bodies of near-naked women." "Everything wavers in the hazy background where Loulou appears as a kind of pagan idol—alluring, glittering with sequins, feathers, frills, and furbelows." (Lotte Eisner)

September 20

Le Journal d'une fille perdue / Tagebuch einer Verlorenen
Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Germany / 1929 / 95 min / DCP / French intertitles / Restored version
Based on the novel *Tagebuch einer Verlorenen* by Margarete Böhme.
With Louise Brooks, Sybille Schmitz, Edith Meinhard.
Screening introduced by Florence Tissot

Cast out by her family, seduced and then rejected, a young woman endures the brutality of institutions, moving from a boarding school to a brothel. Louise Brooks’s elusive gaze haunts this indictment of the moral order, elevated by Pabst’s poetic realism. A hymn to forgiveness and generosity.

"Louise Brooks represents the intelligence of screen acting; she is the perfect embodiment of photogenie. She alone encapsulates everything the cinema of the late silent era sought: extreme naturalness and extreme simplicity. Without her, Pabst could never have achieved universality; he could never have attained that direct, stripped-down, objective style; he could never have gone so far, handling such risqué subjects with such elegance—that way of saying everything, analyzing everything, without seeming to touch it." (Henri Langlois)

The Canary Murder Case
Malcolm St. Clair, Frank Tuttle
USA / 1929 / 82 min / 35mm (unique print) / Original version with French subtitles
Based on the novel *The Canary Murder Case* by S. S. Van Dine.
Starring William Powell, James Hall, Louise Brooks.

A cabaret singer—a past master at the art of blackmail—is found dead. Surrounding her is a gallery of compromised men, all suspects and all manipulated. A product of the Pre-Code era, *The Canary Murder Case* plunges into a world of mercenary seduction and deceptive appearances, where scandal is the common currency. A poisonous mystery and a scathing portrait of the nightlife scene.

September 24

The Show Off 
Malcolm St. Clair
USA / 1926 / 75 min / 35mm unique print / French intertitles
With Ford Sterling, Lois Wilson, Louise Brooks.

An inveterate braggart insinuates himself into a respectable family, making promises he cannot possibly keep. Ford Sterling delivers a performance of unbridled bluster, mirroring a social veneer cracked by constant lying and chatter. It is a biting comedy that turns absurdity into a driving force and the loudmouth into a true agent of chaos.

The American Venus
Frank Tuttle
USA / 1925 / 8 min / DCP / French intertitles / Restored version
With Esther Ralston, Lawrence Gray, Louise Brooks.

Beauty pageants, advertising, and dreams of stardom provide the backdrop for a comedy set in the heart of 1920s America. Through the already captivating figure of Louise Brooks in her first major role, Tuttle captures the emergence of a form of femininity that is exposed and mediated—featuring actual footage from the Miss America pageant—and held captive by a spectacle that shapes bodies and images. 

Now We're in the Air
Frank R. Strayer
USA / 1927 / 23 min / DCP / French intertitles / Restored version
Starring Louise Brooks, Wallace Beery, and Raymond Hatton.

Amidst espionage and cases of mistaken identity, two bumbling aviators find themselves swept up in the war. Driven by the comic duo of Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatton, this third installment in a series of military comedies favors slapstick and adventure. Louise Brooks plays mischievous twins, bringing charm and levity to a fast-paced, whimsical film punctuated by spectacular aerial sequences borrowed from William Wellman’s *Wings*.

Just Another Blonde
Alfred Santell
USA / 1926 / 32 min / French intertitles / Restored version
Starring Dorothy Mackaill, Jack Mulhall, Louise Brooks.

A New York player must woo the woman he loves on behalf of his best friend. At Coney Island, charm is a weapon, promises are traded like chips, and hearts fall faster than illusions. Shot on location, *Just Another Blonde* turns the pursuit of success into a lively, cheeky game of deception where everyone tries their luck—even if it means cheating a little. 

Be sure and check out the adjunct pages linked to from the main retrospective page, including the letter from Louise Brooks to Henri Langlois, and Élodie Tamayo's essay, "The Art of Punctuation," which begins with the brilliant opening line, "What if Louise Brooks were a punctuation mark?"

Find out more about four of the films in this historic retrospective by checking out one or more of these publications from Thomas Gladysz and the Louise Brooks Society, all of which are available from amazon France.

Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film, by Thomas Gladysz (with a foreword by William Wellman Jr.) 

Now We're in the Air: A Companion to the Once "Lost" Film, by Thomas Gladysz (with a foreword by Robert Byrne)

The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond, by Thomas Gladysz (with forewords by Robert Byrne & Kevin Brownlow)

Louise Brooks, the Persistent Star, by Thomas Gladysz

The Diary of a Lost Girl (Louise Brooks edition), by Margarete Bohme (edited & with an introduction by Thomas Gladysz)

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original content copyright © 2026. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. 

A rare advertisement for Pandora's Box from 1929 Ukraine

This is a follow-up post to the August 22 blog, "A newly uncovered article about Louise Brooks - from war-torn Eastern Europe," I teased this post in that blog, and here it is, as promised, a glorious advertisement for the 1929 Louise Brooks film, Pandora's Box, as published in an Ukrainian newspaper.

In that earlier post, I mentioned that I subscribe to a handful of online newspaper and magazine archives, and also pay to acquire scans of documents & images from other academic and institutional archives. One of those archives to which I subscribe is Arcanum, Eastern Europe's "largest continuously expanding digital periodical database". The Ukrainian newspaper advertisement shown below was found in that archive. 

Before I go further, let me mention that the earlier post had an unexpected though pleasing affect. Two individuals, appreciative of my research, made a donation to the Louise Brooks Society through its BUY ME A COFFEE app. 

Those two individuals are Bill LeFurgy and frantzen@mailbox.org. Each thanked me for my ongoing efforts... and that means a lot to me. I would not be able to subscribe to archives and find new material without their help and the help of others who have supported the Louise Brooks Society, including those who have bought me cup of coffee or two or five. This post is dedicated to Bill LeFurgy and frantzen. (And a thank you as well to the individual who thanked me for sharing this article. Apparently, it made their day.)

This March 31, 1929 newspaper advertisement was published in Vorwärts, a now defunct German-language socialist newspaper published in present-day Chernivtsi, Ukraine. (There were a number of German-language newspapers scattered across Eastern Europe, in cities and towns where there were pockets of German speakers. With the region's shifting borders, Chernivtsi was once located in Austria-Hungrary, and then Romania, before being absorbed into the Ukraine - which in 1929 was part of the old U.S.S.R.) I have come across images of this newspaper page in different databases, and have blogged about it in the past. This version, however, is the best. 

 

Here is a Google assisted translation of the block of text beneath the film title: 

"Pandora was the wondrous woman of Greek legend to whom the gods entrusted a vessel containing all the evils and sins of the world. Rashly, she opened the box, unleashing all manner of calamity upon the earth... Lulu, too—that ravishingly beautiful woman—brings ruin to the men who cross her path and are consumed by their sin, like moths drawn to a flame. She senses her boundless power over men and rises to splendor and wealth like a meteor in the night sky. One by one, they meet their downfall at her hands. The dynamic, domineering Dr. Schön is hopelessly ensnared in Lulu’s web. His son, the idealistic Alwa, is destroyed by her. The muscular athlete Rodrigo Quast is driven to his death by her. Thus she spreads misfortune, until the triumphant huntress—in a sudden twist of fate—becomes the hunted prey. She encounters a male beast who is a kindred spirit: Jack the Ripper. Beneath the knife of this tragic monster, the life of that young woman—ravishingly beautiful to the very end, yet destined, like the legendary Pandora, to bring only calamity to the world—comes to its close."

The text beneath the cast listing reads:

"This film of global significance will premiere at the "Altes Stadttheater" cinema starting March 31st as part of the Easter program. Not suitable for young people."

The former Altes Stadttheater (Old City Theatre) in Chernivtsi is now known as the Olga Kobylianska Chernivtsi Drama Theatre, and is named after Olga Kobylianska. (A statue of Kobylianska, an Ukrainian national poet, now sits outside of the building.) The theater was built between 1904 - 1905 by the Viennese architectural firm Fellner & Helmer, which designed dozens of European theaters. Over the years, Altes Stadttheater has hosted legendary performers like Enrico Caruso and Feodor Chaliapin - as well as screening legendary films like Pandora's Box.

This TripAdvisor page has numerous images of the buildings exterior and interior. 

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original content copyright © 2026. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.  

The Street of Forgotten Men, with Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1925

The Street of Forgotten Men, with Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1925. The film underworld romance set among fake beggars and their “cripple factory” in the slums of the Bowery in New York City. The film is based on an O. Henryesque short story by George Kibbe Turner which appeared in Liberty magazine on February 14, 1925, just two months before the film went into production. The film is notable as the first in which Louise Brooks had a role, that of a moll (companion to a gangster). More about the film can be found on the Louise Brooks Society website filmography page.

[Though officially released on this day in 1925, the film debuted a month earlier, on July 19th at the Rivoli theater in New York City. See this earlier Louise Brooks Society blog post for a recap of that event.]

The Street of Forgotten Men was well regarded upon release, with star Percy Marmount singled out time and again for a fine dramatic performance often compared to the efforts of Lon Chaney. Director Herbert Brenon was also praised for his realistic depiction of Bowery life. Brenon, who the year before had directed Peter Pan (1924), went on to helm such classics as Beau Geste (1926), The Great Gatsby (1926), and Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1928). His Sorrell and Son (1927) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director at the 1st Academy Awards.

The New York Daily News praised the film, noting “The Street of Forgotten Men dips into the dark pools of life. It shows you the beggars of life — apologies to Jim Tully — and in showing them it shows them up.”

Dorothy Evans of the Sacramento Union summed-up the feelings of many critics when she noted that the film’s “theme goes deeper than the average motion picture”. Roberta Nangle of the Chicago Tribune echoed her, “It is a startling tale of Bowery life, of the soiled, tawdry ladies and broken men of the underworld”. An exclamation point was added by A. F. Gillaspey of the San Francisco Bulletin, “For fine dramatic detail, for unusualness, for giving us a glimpse into a world we never see and into the other sides of characters we simply pass in pity on the streets, The Street of Forgotten Men is a photoplay revelation.”

Exhibitor’s Trade Review stated the film was tied for fifth among the year’s biggest “profit takers,” as reported by exhibitors. Commercial success was matched by critical acclaim. The National Board of Review named The Street of Forgotten Men one of the 40 best pictures of 1925; it was also picked one of the best films of the year by the Houston Chronicle, Pittsburgh Gazette Times, San Francisco Call & Post, Tacoma Times, and Topeka Daily Capital.

Though her role was small and she was not listed in the credits, Brooks received her very first notice for work in a film. In August, an anonymous critic for the Los Angeles Times wrote, “And there was a little rowdy, obviously attached to the ‘blind’ man, who did some vital work during her few short scenes. She was not listed.” At the time, this reference to Brooks was the extant of any attention she would receive for being in the film. Brooks, however, is depicted in at least two publicity stills issued by Paramount. Both show moments from the bar fight, a turning point in the film. Seemingly, neither of the stills were published in the United States, though both were published abroad, one in Brazil, and another in France.

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

— According to one newspaper article, some of the names or ‘monackers’ scrawled on the beggars’ lockers include Bridgeport White Eye and Easy Money Charlie, as well as London Tip, Ed the Flop, Chicago Stick, Handsome Harry’ and Diamond Dick.

— The role of Portland Fancy was played by Juliet Brenon, the niece of the director.

— In one scene, Mary Brian is shown playing the piano. The sheet music is from Peter Pan, which Brian had starred in the year before under the direction of Brenon.

— The dog in the film was played by Lassie, who also appeared in Tol’able David and other silent films. According to the New York Times, Lassie was a star, earning $15,000 a year as a canine actor. The article noted “It is said that the death of Lassie in The Street of Forgotten Men was so impressive that persons were convinced that she must have been cruelly beaten.”

— A 1926 article in the New York Times reported that the film may have inspired a group of beggars to feign handicaps. “The police are investigating the speakeasy. It was recalled that several months ago a motion picture, The Street of Forgotten Men . . . showed just such an establishment for equipping ‘cripples’ as that described by Williams, and the police thought the movie idea might have been put to practical use.”

 — The first ever book on the film, The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond, was published by the Louise Brooks Society in 2023. The book is authored by LBS Director Thomas Gladysz, and features forewords by film preservationist Robert Byrne and Oscar Honoree Kevin Brownlow. (Purchase on amazon.)

“It’s very much a ‘start to finish’ look at the film’s history…. The book is not only a deep dive into the history of this particular film, but it also serves as an excellent example of precisely how silent Hollywood created and marketed some of its finest products back in its heyday. It’ll be both interesting and helpful for film history scholars, and perhaps be a springboard for similar book projects in the future.” — Lea Stans, Silent-ology 

More about the film can be found on The Street of Forgotten Men (filmography page) on the Louise Brooks Society website.

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original content copyright © 2026. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.   

A newly uncovered article about Louise Brooks - from war-torn Eastern Europe

I recently came across a rather remarkable article about Louise Brooks. It's remarkable in that it is a virtual "love letter" to the actress from a time when she was pretty much forgotten... 1943. (That's four years after Brooks' last film was released.) What's also remarkable about this article is that it appeared in a Romanian newspaper in the midst of the second World War. At the time, Romania was allied with Nazi Germany, whose cultural ministry had previously banned the film at the center of this article, Pandora's Box. 

But first some context as to how this article was found: I subscribe to a handful of online newspaper and magazine archives, and pay to acquire scans of documents & images from other academic and institutional archives. As I am always researching various aspects of Louise Brooks career and films, it is what I do. And sometimes I find rare and unusual things....

Among the newspaper archives to which I subscribe is Arcanum, Eastern Europe's "largest continuously expanding digital periodical database" which contains millions of pages of scientific and specialized journals, encyclopaedias, weekly and daily newspapers, etc.... Its holdings are especially strong in publications from Romania and Hungary. There are also a smattering of titles from the Ukraine, Slovenia, Czechia, Slovakia, and elsewhere. Stay tuned to this blog for another remarkable advertisement from the Ukraine. (BTW: Romania and Hungary are two countries whose newspaper and magazine archives -- especially their film magazine archives -- had long proven difficult to access. Now, if someone would archive publications from Bulgaria and the former Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, I would be so pleased.... Does anyone know a good source or point of entry?) 

"O Piesa Uitata" appeared in Rampa, a once prominent Romanian cultural newspaper based in Bucharest, the capital of the eastern European nation. Though anonymous, the article has a strong, even personal voice. I can imagine the individual who penned it -- besieged by the war raging in Europe -- longing for the time when his or her favorite movie stars flickered across the peacetime screens of their homeland. (I assume the author is a movie-going male who might have seen Pandora's Box in a Romanian movie house some 13 or 14 years earlier.... but then a younger male who saw the film as a teen or twenty something might well be fighting in the war, and not writing articles for newspapers. Who knows? Perhaps the author of this piece was a woman, or an old man who loved movies, or....) 

Here is the article. I wonder what ever happened to its author? 

What follows is a Google assisted translation, to which I made a few tweaks. (If anyone can help with this translations, please let me know.)

A FORGOTTEN PLAY...
of PANDORA
The stars that have gone out. — Louise Brooks and the play by Frank Wedekind. — Asta Nielsen and Mrs. Gerhard Hauptmann in "Lulu"

Time passes, people forget, stars age...

Where have Marcela Albáni, Héléne Makowska, Fern Andra, Vivian Gibson disappeared? Where are Priscilla Dean, Louise Brooks, Maria Iacobini, Aud Egede Niessan, Nathalia Kowanko?...

Of all the artists mentioned above, some were truly very gifted. Only one left the memory of a unique appearance. However, today she is no longer talked about. Forgotten? I don't think so. Louise Brooks cannot be forgotten. Others have just taken her place...

The actress played "Lulu" with surprising skill, the femme fatale mistress from the famous play "Die Buechse der Pandora", by Frank Wedekind. The great German playwright caused an incredible stir at the premiere of his play on the stage of an avant-garde theater! Full of subtle psychological traps, with a bold subject and erotic scenes, the expressionist thesis was harshly criticized just like his other play "Spring Awakening". 

Wedekind was accused of immorality, destructive spirit and incitement to murder! Banned, the play was later revived and, following debate, it was a definite success.

Today all these controversies cause some bewilderment, but let us not forget that the story took place long before the First World War! The main role was played at that time by a very daring actress, the current wife of Gerhard Hauptmann. Pale, thin with restless eyes, she gave a very well-studied "Lulu". Short-cut with bangs, (she still has the same hairstyle today, only her hair is now white...) in defiance against the severe fashion of that time, the actress created and established the physical outline of her heroine.

Asta Nielsen, the great Danish tragedian, played “Lulu” on stage and in film. Dramatizing the complex character of this “Pandora,” the unconscious bringer (or not?) of all misfortunes. The famous artist remained faithful to tradition: thin, almost skeletal, with a livid face and burning eyes, she also appeared with short, disheveled hair, symbolizing the revolt of feminism against the conventional.

Many years passed and "Pandora's Box" seemed forgotten, just like "Nora" or "Hedda Gabler." But one day someone remembered this scandalous play. Who will be worthy of a new "Lulu"? Who will shyly utter the name of Louise Brooks, and in a while, this unknown name will be known everywhere...

Thus Louise Brooks knew glory. Without much experience, but by instinct, she brought a new rhythm to the performance. She made "Lulu" a cheerful woman, full of life and fire. A woman child, an angel demon who is spoiled without knowing it and evil without understanding it. Unaware to the point of stupidity, but generous and kind, when she wants to!

Driving all the men around her crazy, she seems to be wondering, why so much turmoil, why these passionate outbursts, which she nevertheless provokes on purpose. Or maybe not? Lulu is difficult to analyze, she escapes with a wink, with a tinkling of laughter. She brings no one happiness. But she is loved also for the suffering she causes.

Her end, however, is terrible and unexpected. Wedekind, loving the sensational, introduces into his often troubled play a monstrous character, a man who seems fictional and yet lived: 

This man is "Jack the Ripper"! The uproar his bloody crimes caused in the past is well known. London lived in a terrible fear. The police searched in vain for traces of this monster, who killed with precision and in cold blood under the sinister shield of the city. His victims were mostly street women, whose bellies he cut open with sadistic pleasure. It was said that he was a maniac, a doctor in his time, who sought revenge for a disease he contracted by contagion....

The murderer meets Lulu. Seeking escape in England, accused of murder and falling ever lower, she finally ends up on the Thames embankments. Here she "catches" a weak and sad man, who follows her almost in amazement. Her youth moves him. Her charm is strong, but the urge to murder is even stronger...

"Jack the Ripper" kills "Lulu". He kills her deliberately, but... with regret....

And so ends the drama and Louise's career. (She later appeared in a light comedy.) For those who haven't seen her, I'll say that she was brunette with black eyes. Her short hair with bangs covered her forehead to her eyebrows, hers very short and thick (they had never felt the plucking pliers). She had full lips, small breasts and long hands. 

An interesting woman, this Louise Brooks... 

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original content copyright © 2026. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.  

Prix de beauté, starring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1930

Prix de beauté, with Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1930. In her last starring role and last European film, Louise Brooks plays a typist stuck in a dull job who wins a beauty contest. Like Pandora’s Box and Diary of a Lost Girl, Prix de beauté is a tragedy in which misfortune befalls the character played by Brooks. In a sense, the film can be seen as the third in a European trilogy starring the actress. The film is notable for being the first sound film to feature Brooks, although her dialogue and singing were dubbed, as well as one of the earliest French sound films. 

More about the film can be found on the Louise Brooks Society website filmography page.

Production of Prix de beauté was problematic. Intended as silent film and based on a story by G.W. Pabst and Rene Clair (with the French Clair as the intended director), funding for the project fell apart, and its production delayed. This was at the time when the European cinema was transitioning to sound. Eventually, Prix de beauté was released as a “talkie” under the direction of Augusto Genina, an Italian, with the Polish-born Rudolph Maté acting as cinematographer.

In June, 1930 Morris Gilbert wrote an article on the changing French film industry for the New York Times. He noted that a handful of American stars were appearing in French productions, including “Louise Brooks, a product of young Hollywood, is starring in the French Prix de beauté.” Gilbert’s mention was one of the first the film received in the United States.

That same month, writing in the British journal Close-Up, Charles E. Stenhouse gave the film one its first English-language reviews. Stenhouse wrote, “Louise Brooks [was] looking very photogenic as Miss France but not acting as well as when directed by Pabst. Never has one of Pabst’s discoveries achieved more than when under his inspiring influence. Greta Garbo! Brigitte Helm! And now Louise Brooks! The big trick in Prix de beauté is its remarkable ending, which redeems the previous passages whose very mediocrity emphasizes the ending’s splendour. An exceptional one and for once not a happy one. . . . A trick – but really one of beauty and irony, and at last a morsel of true sound-film technique.”

Variety reviewed the film on September 3, 1930. Writing about the Berlin screening, Magnus gave Prix de beauté a mixed notice. “In itself this talker is neither better nor worse than most others. . . . It shows the right conception for facts, a natural way of looking at things and reality. . . . This talker is very interesting, if only for the scene when the little girl has sunk back dead in her chair and her tune-picture continues singing from the screen. . . . Owing to bad synchronization this talker is a failure. . . . The acting is very good. Louise Brooks looks charming and she knows how to move.”

Miss Europa, as it was titled in Germany, did poor business, and reportedly only played for five days in August 1930. The film played across Europe — from Iceland to Poland, as well as in now former French colonies, like Algeria and Haiti. The film was not shown in the United States until decades later.

 

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

— For the European market, Prix de beauté was released in four languages – French, English, German and Italian. Brooks’ voice was dubbed by Hélène Regelly (in French) and Donatella Neri (in Italian).

— On June 15, 1930 Morris Gilbert wrote an article on the changing French film industry for the New York Times. He noted “Louise Brooks, a product of young Hollywood, is starring in the French Prix de beauté.” This marked the first mention of the film in an American publication. Prix de beauté, however, was not shown in the United States until decades later.

— In 1932, Editions Jules Tallandier published an illustrated novelization of the film as part of its Cinema-Bibliotheque series. Boisyvon, who would go on to establish himself as a film historian and critic, wrote the story.

More about Prix de beauté can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its Prix de beauté (filmography page).  

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original content copyright © 2026. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. 

The Show Off, with Louise Brooks, was released 100 years ago today

The Show Off, featuring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1926. The film a satiric comedy about an insufferable braggart who disrupts the life of a middle-class family. While remembered today as a Louise Brooks film, The Show-Off is really a vehicle for Ford Sterling, a comedian best remembered for his starring work as a member of the Keystone Kops. As a broad comedian, he is the perfect choice for the role of the titular blowhard Aubrey Piper. Brooks plays a supporting role as the love interest of the boy who lives next door. 

The Show Off is in my opinion one of Brooks' best early comedies. More about the film can be found on the Louise Brooks Society website filmography page.

Based on a popular stage play by an acclaimed playwright, The Show-Off was considered a prestige project — and thus drew a significant amount of critical attention along with inevitable comparison to its Broadway namesake. Motion Picture News proclaimed, “The picture is funnier than the play.” However, Billboard magazine disapproved, stating the film “has emerged considerably worse for the wear in its trip from the legit to the silver screen.” The critic for the San Jose Evening News countered, adding “The Show-Off is undoubtedly one of the biggest comedy hits of the year.”

John S. Cohen Jr. of the New York Sun wrote, “Directed by Malcolm St. Clair, the film boasts of exceptional naturalistic acting on the part of Ford Sterling, Lois Wilson, Claire McDowell, C. W. Goodrich, Gregory Kelly and – in one sequence – Louise Brooks . . . . Miss Brooks is best in the scene where she burlesques the pantomime employed by Mr. Sterling to describe his automobile experience.”

Famed author Robert E. Sherwood, named it a “recommended” film in McCall’s magazine. Writing in Life, he said the director “has taken a simple play of average American life and made a genuinely tender, touching, sympathetic picture of it”. Sherwood went on to call the film “a worthy reproduction of a great comedy.” Later, in Mirrors of the Year, an annual published in 1927, The Show-Off was deemed “a remarkable artistic achievement” and one of the best films of 1926.

Along with comparison to the play, criticism of The Show-Off also focused on Brooks. The critic for the Ann Arbor Times News thought Brooks almost “ran away with the picture.” While Peggy Patton of the Wisconsin News said Brooks “adds a dash of color to the offering with her daring personality.”

Other critics, however, disagreed — and a number found fault with her appearance. Dorothy Herzog of the New York Daily Mirror wrote “Louise Brooks spitfires, prisses, oogles and calls it a day of heavy emoting. Miss Brooks is a distinct type, but she seems to suffer from inefficient direction and miscasting. She also appears a trifle rounded, for and aft, in this opera, but this may be due to her skin-tight dresses.”

Norbert Lusk of Picture-Play echoed Herzog’s comments, stating “Lois Wilson tossed aside opportunities for shrewd characterization by wearing Paris frocks as a daughter of the Philadelphia poor. Louise Brooks, another little sister of poverty, likewise offended.” Frank Aston of the Cincinnati Post added an exclamation mark with a bit of snark when he noted, “And henceforth and forever when we think of The Show-Off we shall picture Louise Brooks and her display of hosiery.”

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

— The Show-Off (1924) was authored by Philadelphia-born George Kelly (1887–1974), an American playwright, screenwriter, director, and actor. Besides being the uncle of the Oscar winning actress Grace Kelly (the future Princess Grace of Monaco), George Kelly was considered by some (Robert Benchley, Alexander Woollcott, and others) as one of the finest  dramatists of the 1920s — alongside the likes of Sherwood Anderson and Elmer Rice. Besides The Show-Off, Kelly was best known for Craig’s Wife (1925), which won the Pulitzer Prize and was made into a motion picture on three occasions. His first play, The Torch Bearers, was also highly regarded.

— The Show-Off is one of two films that co-starred the popular Broadway actor Gregory Kelly (no relation), who died shortly after The Show-Off finished production. Gregory Kelly was the first husband of actress Ruth Gordon.

More about The Show-Off can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its The Show-Off (filmography page).

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original content copyright © 2026. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.  

Don't forget . . . . Submit Louise Brooks' films for the 2026 National Film Registry

Don't forget . . . . Submit Louise Brooks' films for the 2026 National Film Registry. The Louise Brooks Society suggests these American films.

Beggars of Life (1928) -- Americana a la hobo mode & William Wellman's favorite of his silent films

The Show-Off (1926) -- based on the classic George Kelly play, remade multiple times as a film 

Love Em and Leave Em (1926) -- a 'swonderful flapper rom-com set during the Roaring 20s

The Street of Forgotten Men (1925) --  one of the first "gangs of New York"

The deadline is August 15th

Begin the simple submission form HERE (at https://www.research.net/r/national-fim-registry-nomination-form)

 

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original content copyright © 2026. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.   

Remembering Louise Brooks, who passed away on August 8, 1985

The Louise Brooks Society remembers Louise Brooks (November 14, 1906 – August 8, 1985), dancer, actress, writer, and inspiration to many. She is a 20th century icon, and a 21st century muse. Yes, she is gone, but she is not forgotten. Here is a link to her "Find a Grave" page. Why not visit the page and leave some virtual flowers.

 

The Louise Brooks Society, which this year marks 31 years online, was founded in part to celebrate Brooks' legacy. Please visit the Louise Brooks Society website at www.pandorasbox.com and share in that celebration.  

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original content copyright © 2026. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.