The Museum of Modern Art in New York City will screen the 1929 Louise Brooks film Diary of a Lost Girl on Tuesday, April 9th at 7:00 p.m. The screening is part of a new film series and accompanying poster exhibition called "What Price Hollywood" which looks at the nature of sexual politics on the screen. More information about this screening can be found HERE.
The MoMA website describes the "What Price Hollywood" series this way: "During the studio system’s 'golden age,' subtle, empowered star turns by Barbara Stanwyck, Louise Brooks, Bette Davis, Gloria Grahame, and others simultaneously upheld gender norms and hinted at alternative models of sexual identity. Yet later players, like Peggy Cummins in Gun Crazy, Marlene Clark and Duane Jones in Ganja & Hess, or Divine in Female Trouble, were given license to subvert gender limitations altogether."
While Diary of a Lost Girl speaks to the "nature of sexual politics on the screen," it is an odd fit, as it was neither a Hollywood film nor a film of the American "studio system’s 'golden age'," which most of the other films in the series are.... (It is also the only silent film included in the series.) Among the other films being shown in this worthwhile series are The Good Fairy (1935), directed by William Wyler, A Free Soul (1931), directed by Clarence Brown, The Scarlet Empress (1934), directed by Josef von Sternberg, and of course What Price Hollywood (1932), directed by George Cukor.
Of course, it is always good to see a Louise Brooks film on the big screen, even if it is shoe-horned into a film series it doesn't quite fit into. Nevertheless, I will give the MoMA writers credit for describing the film as few do, notably in its use of the word "rape"
"After a teenager (Louise Brooks) is raped and impregnated by her father’s colleague, she refuses to marry her attacker and is sent by her father to a hellish reformatory. Following 1928’s Beggars of Life, Diary of a Lost Girl marks a particularly powerful and socially minded period of Brooks’s brief but electric career."
The MoMA website describes the "What Price Hollywood" series this way: "During the studio system’s 'golden age,' subtle, empowered star turns by Barbara Stanwyck, Louise Brooks, Bette Davis, Gloria Grahame, and others simultaneously upheld gender norms and hinted at alternative models of sexual identity. Yet later players, like Peggy Cummins in Gun Crazy, Marlene Clark and Duane Jones in Ganja & Hess, or Divine in Female Trouble, were given license to subvert gender limitations altogether."
While Diary of a Lost Girl speaks to the "nature of sexual politics on the screen," it is an odd fit, as it was neither a Hollywood film nor a film of the American "studio system’s 'golden age'," which most of the other films in the series are.... (It is also the only silent film included in the series.) Among the other films being shown in this worthwhile series are The Good Fairy (1935), directed by William Wyler, A Free Soul (1931), directed by Clarence Brown, The Scarlet Empress (1934), directed by Josef von Sternberg, and of course What Price Hollywood (1932), directed by George Cukor.
Of course, it is always good to see a Louise Brooks film on the big screen, even if it is shoe-horned into a film series it doesn't quite fit into. Nevertheless, I will give the MoMA writers credit for describing the film as few do, notably in its use of the word "rape"
Diary of a Lost Girl. 1929. Germany. Directed by G. W. Pabst. 35mm. Silent. 125 min.
"After a teenager (Louise Brooks) is raped and impregnated by her father’s colleague, she refuses to marry her attacker and is sent by her father to a hellish reformatory. Following 1928’s Beggars of Life, Diary of a Lost Girl marks a particularly powerful and socially minded period of Brooks’s brief but electric career."
I don't know if the exhibition part of "What Price Hollywood" contains any posters related to Louise Brooks. For those interested in learning more, check out the Louise Brooks Society website and its Diary of a Lost Girl filmography page. Also, the film is available on DVD / Blu-ray (with an audio commentary by your's truly, Thomas Gladysz). Also, back in 2010, I edited and wrote the introduction to the "Louise Brooks edition" of The Diary of a Lost Girl, the sensational / controversial book on which the film was based. Both can be found on amazon.
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