Silent and Forgotten - forthcoming film features Louise Brooks

A forthcoming docudrama, Silent and Forgotten, features Louise Brooks as its primary character and occasional narrator. The film, an independent release from Summer Hill Films, is set for release on November 12, 2019.

According to the film's producers, "In the years before talking pictures, movies relied on faces to tell a story. Silver screens around the world were illuminated by the incandescent beauty of actresses like Clara Bow, Lillian Gish, Louise Brooks, America's Sweetheart Mary Pickford, and many others. They were the most famous women in the world...adored by millions, worshiped by legions. They had fame, fortune and power. Behind the scenes, it was a different story. Early Hollywood lured thousands of young actresses with the promise of fame and fortune. Hidden in the enticement was exploitation, abuse and ownership by the men in power. Most of these starlets died young of drugs, alcohol and suicide. They have been silent until now. Hear their stories in their own words. In Silent and Forgotten, a single actress re-enacts the stories of 13 of the most famous actresses of the silent era."

That single actress is Jacquie Donley, who stars in the 150 minute film. Donley plays Brooks, as well as Clara Bow, Lillian Gish, Mary Pickford, Theda Bara, Colleen Moore, Marion Davies, Lottie Pickford, Olive Thomas, Marlene Dietrich, Pepi Lederer, Dorothy Arzner, and Virginia Rappe. Among the other individuals portrayed by other actors in this look at early film are Charlie Chaplin, Owen Moore, Jack Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, William Wellman, Richard Arlen, B. P. Schulberg, D.W. Griffith, Walter Wanger, Adolf Zukor, Will Hays, Elinor Glyn, and Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle.

A number of individuals associated with Brooks and her careers as a dancer and actress are also portrayed. They include James Card and Kenneth Tynan, Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn, G. W. Pabst, Fritz Kortner and Alice Robert, Hal McCoy, and Lord Beaverbrook.

Silent and Forgotten is in pre-sale now at a discount. According to Donley, "Our hope is that we were as accurate as possible while giving one perspective of what Louise must have experienced emotionally during her lifetime. This movie was a labor of love, and our hope is that one of these days, we can get a star on the walk of fame for Louise."