Friday, August 11, 2023

A Girl in Every Port Screens in Australia

A Girl in Every Port, the 1928 Howard Hawks silent starring Louise Brooks, will be shown in Australia on Saturday, August 12th. The film will be shown at the The Majestic Theatre, 3 Factory Street Pomona, QLD, 4568. More information about the event can be found HERE


I wonder what print they are using? The event description states:

"Spike (McLaglen) travels the world as the mate of a schooner He has a little address book full of sweethearts, but everywhere he goes, he finds that someone has been there before him, leaving behind with each girl a heart-shaped charm with an anchor inscribed on it. In Central America, he takes a dislike to another sailor, Salami (Armstrong), but before they can settle their differences, they brawl with the police and are thrown in jail.

Stars Victor McLagen, Louise Brooks & Robert Armstrong

Doors & Bar open 11am. Coffee tea drinks & snacks available. $15 adults & kids 13 and under free. No need to book. Get your tickets at the door."


THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2023. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. 

Monday, August 7, 2023

The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond

My new book, The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond, has just been published and is now available on amazon.com and other websites. More information and a link to purchase may be found HERE.

There is much to recommend about The Street of Forgotten Men, which was both a popular and critical success at the time of its release. The film is based on a story by a noted writer of the time; it was made by a significant director, shot by a great cinematographer, and features a fine cast which includes a future screen legend at the very beginning of her career. Altogether, there are many points of interest. My book is a deep dive into the history of one film - its literary source, its making, its critical reception, and its surprising, little-known legacy. It is the primary intention of this book to show how one film might be exemplary of film-making and film culture during the silent era.

However, there is more to this story.... One of John Donne's famous poems begins "No man is an island entire of itself; every man / is a piece of the continent, a part of the main". To me, what Donne's verse says about humanity is what I believe about significant works of art, including films. Everything is connected in some way, in that nothing is created in a vacuum. I have kept Donne's lines in mind while writing this book. If anything, this book achieves one thing - it places
The Street of Forgotten Men in the rich cinematic and cultural context of its time. Does such a context elevate this particular film as a work of art, or as a cinematic achievement? Not necessarily. But then, that was not my goal.
 
I had long thought of writing a book about
The Street of Forgotten Men, and have been unknowingly gathering material for years, if not decades .... With the film's restoration, it should begin to make its way into the stream of available films. I hope this book prompts the interest of film buffs and film scholars alike, and acts as a companion work for those who have the opportunity to see the film. I also wrote this book for another reason, because it is a book I would like to read about this or any film. Does it matter that The Street of Forgotten Men is a lesser film in the larger scheme of things, or in the history of film? No. Because, no film is an island.

The book's description reads: 

The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond is a deep dive into the history of a single film - its literary source, its making, exhibition history, critical reception, and, most surprising of all, its little known legacy. Few film titles become a catchphrase, let alone a catchphrase which remained in use for half-a-century and resonated throughout American culture. The Street of Forgotten Men (1925) is one such film.

This provocative stab at realism was described as "strange" and "startling" at the time of its release.
The Street of Forgotten Men was directed by Herbert Brenon, who is best known for Peter Pan, The Great Gatsby, Beau Geste, Laugh, Clown, Laugh and other early classics. The film was shot by Harold Rosson, one of the great cinematographers whose credits include Gone with the Wind and Singin' in the Rain. And, it features a stellar cast (Percy Marmont, Mary Brian, Neil Hamilton) which includes a future screen legend at the very beginning of her career (Louise Brooks).

The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond tells the story of the film in rich, historical detail. As this book shows, this forgotten gem is exemplary of film making & film culture in the mid-1920s. Along with vintage clippings and unusual images - including rare production stills and location shots, this new book features all manner of historical documents including the short story on which the film was based, the scenario, a rare French fictionalization, newspaper advertisements, lobby cards, posters, and more. Among the book's many revelations:

-- Multiple accounts of the making of the film - suggesting what it was like on the set of a silent film.
-- A survey of the film's many reviews, including one by the Pulitzer Prize winning poet Carl Sandburg, another by a contributor to Weird Tales, and another by Catholic icon Dorothy Day, a candidate for sainthood.
-- Newly revealed identities of some of the film's bit players - a noted journalist, a future screenwriter, a soon to be famous actress, and a world champion boxer - which include accounts of their working on the film. There is also the story of Lassie's role in the film (no, not that Lassie, the first screen Lassie).
-- A look at the music associated with this silent film: the music played on set, the music depicted in the film, the music heard before the film was shown, and the music played to accompany the film itself (including the rare Paramount cue sheet and an alternative score).
-- And more... from the film's censorship records to its mention on the floor of Congress to its showing in multiple churches to its purchase by the United States Navy to a notice for the film's last documented public screening - at, of all places, a Y.M.C.A. in Shanghai, China in 1931 - six years after its release!

The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond includes dozens of illustrations and images and features two forewords; one is by noted film preservationist Robert Byrne, whose restoration of The Street of Forgotten Men saved it from undeserving obscurity. The other, by acclaimed film historian Kevin Brownlow, is an appreciation of Herbert Brenon which reveals little known details about the movie drawn, in part, from his correspondence with 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 contents copyright © 2023. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. 

Saturday, August 5, 2023

The Street of Forgotten Men screens at the Museum of Modern Art in New York

The Street of Forgotten Men will be shown on August 7th at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The special screening of the recent restoration of the film, will feature a special musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin. More information about this event can be found HERE.

As just about any Louise Brooks fan might know, The Street of Forgotten Men  is a 1925 film which marks Brooks' screen debut. Even though her on screen time is just a couple of minutes, this Herbert Brenon film is well worth seeing. I could say more, but much of wat I could say can be found in my just about to be published book, The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond.

The NY MOMA website states:

"The Street of Forgotten Men. 1925. USA. Directed by Herbert Brenon. Screenplay by Paul Schofield, John Russell. With Percy Marmont, Mary Brian, Neil Hamilton, Louise Brooks. Restored by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, from a print held by the Library of Congress. 76 min.

Herbert Brenon’s 1925 urban melodrama holds its place in film history as the first screen appearance of Louise Brooks, unbilled but unmistakable as a gangster’s moll whose sudden appearance enlivens the film’s final reel. Brenon, one of the most acclaimed directors of the ’20s (Beau Geste, A Kiss for Cinderella) here works with material that might have been written for Lon Chaney and Tod Browning: Easy Money Charley (Percy Marmont) makes a solid living posing as a one-armed amputee begging along the Bowery, but his heart of gold is awakened when a dying prostitute asks him to look after her young daughter—who quickly grows into beautiful Mary Brian, causing problems for everyone involved. The film was shot largely at Paramount’s Astoria studios, with a couple of side trips to Fifth Avenue."


THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2023. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

The Canary Murder Case, co-starring Louise Brooks, coming on DVD

Coming this fall from Kino Lorber: the 1929 William Powell / Louise Brooks ' film, The Canary Murder Case, will be released on DVD by Kino Lorber Classics as part of a three-film Philo Vance Collection. I assume this is the sound version, not the silent version. Further details to come.


THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2023. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.