As most everyone agrees, Louise Brooks was a beautiful women. She was lovely, and it is hard to imagine a depiction of the actress which might depict her so poorly as to make her almost unrecognizable, even a bit "scary." And yet, there exists just such a depiction. As best I can tell, this poster dates from 1930, and comes from France. It is a poster for Loulou, the French title of Pandora's Box. The artist is Marcel Gaillard. (I couldn't find much else about him.)
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The scene shown on the poster above comes from Pandora's Box, at the moment when Alwa places his head in the lap of Lulu. If one has seen the film, then one knows this scene. Yet, the poster artist has so clumsily rendered Brooks' face as to make her unappealing, almost "ugly - I am not sure what other word to use. This is, in my opinion, one of the worst depictions of Brooks, at least, one of the worst I have ever seen.
Another clumsy depiction of Brooks also comes from France. This one is by F. Gaboit, and it adorned a 1980 poster for Loulou issued by Connaissance duCinema (as shown below). Based on the famous Eugene R. Richee photographic portrait of Brooks, this illustration also falls short, especially in the way the artist has elongated the fingers which hold the strand of pearls. There is also something about the way Gaboit has rendered Brooks' face that doesn't appeal to me. I can't say what exactly, but that is the way I feel. Maybe it is because Richee's portrait is so perfect, and that this drawn illustration is so imperfect. I have seen another adaption of this poster art, and it is similarly lacking.
Gaboit was not a bad artist, it is just that I think the Loulou poster falls short. On the other hand, Gaboit's poster for Le Journal d'une fille perdue (the French title for Diary of a Lost Girl) is appealing and I think successful in capturing the lovely allure of Brooks.
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