Once lost Louise Brooks films to have Blu-ray release

At last it can be told.... Flicker Alley and San Francisco Film Preserve have announced the release of Focus on Louise Brooks, a single-disc Blu-ray compilation of the iconic star’s early performances, including her film debut in Herbert Brenon's The Street of Forgotten Men. This exceptional 1925 melodrama has been fully restored and is being made available for the very first time, joined by extant materials from three additional Brooks features, The American Venus (1926), Just Another Blonde (1926), and Now We’re in the Air (1927). More information on this new release can be found HERE.

The Louise Brooks Society has long been intimately involved with this project, which was ten years in the making. This multi-region Blu-ray contains a treasure trove of early & rare Brooks performances with extant material from her earliest films brought together in one place, newly restored, and presented in a deluxe edition. Fore more about each title, see the LBS pages about each film.

• The Street of Forgotten Men /1925 / Directed by Herbert Brenon / 75 minutes / U.S. / Famous Players-Lasky Corporation (LBS pages on the film)
  
  
• The American Venus (Extant Materials) / 1926 / Directed by Frank Tuttle / 8 minutes / Famous Players–Lasky (LBS pages on the film)
  
  
• Just Another Blonde (Fragment) / 1926 / Directed by Alfred Santell / 32 minutes / First National (LBS pages on the film)
  
  
• Now We’re in the Air (Fragment) / 1927 / Directed by Frank R. Strayer / 23 minutes / Paramount Pictures (LBS pages on the film)

Besides the above mentioned films and the rarely seen trailer of Just Another Blonde (which contains footage not seen in the surviving fragment), Focus on Louise Brooks also contains a generous selection of bonus materials. 

• Restoration Demo - A look at the painstaking process that went into preserving the films included in this set

• Audio Commentaries - Informative audio tracks are included with film scholar Pamela Hutchinson on The Street of Forgotten Men, with author and film historians Thomas Gladysz and Kathy Rose O’Regan on Just Another Blonde, and with Gladysz and Robert Byrne on The American Venus and Now We’re in the Air.

• Looking at Lulu - Explore the fascinating behind the scenes life of Louise Brooks with an extended featurette hosted by historian Pamela Hutchinson 

• Image Galleries - Featuring production stills and promotional material

• Booklet Insert - With an essay by film historian Thomas Gladysz and restoration notes by Rob Byrne

• English closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing, as well as subtitle tracks in English, Spanish, French, and German

• Blu-ray Authoring by David Mackenzie of Fidelity In Motion

• All Region Encoding (A,B,C)

And if that isn't enough to tempt you... There is a gorgeous limited edition spot gloss slipcover only available at the Flicker Alley website and select indie retailers. No major retailers will be stocking this item. Pre-order your copy today! The listed release date is January 13, 2026.

 

Louise Brooks may well be the only actress in the history of film who's uncredited bit part in her film debut nevertheless got her a review, in the Los Angeles Times, no less. As another newspaper stated following the release of Just Another Blonde, “Louise Brooks, who is said to be Clara Bow’s only rival as cinema’s most ravishing flapper, is a convincing argument in favor of modernism.” Amen.

Focus on Louise Brooks presents Louise Brooks as she hasn't been seen in nearly 100 years. She is lively, coy, flirty, drop-dead gorgeous and a joy to behold. She is, indeed, something else. This new release is a disc silent film and Louise Brooks fans will want to own. Pre-order your copy today!

Focus on Louise Brooks represents the first entry in a new Flicker Fusion series that will explore newly restored films, some lost and/or fragmentary, ripe for rediscovery, and featuring some of early cinema’s biggest names. I'll end this post with a few screen grabs which may tempt you further.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If this disc succeeds, who knows what else might be released. Do your part, and Pre-order your copy today! 

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 © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.   

BIG announcement coming tomorrow

 BIG announcement coming tomorrow re: Louise Brooks. Stay tuned to this channel.

 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 © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.  

Louise Brooks movies and books make for great gifts

Louise Brooks movies and books make for great gifts! For a complete and up-to-date selection of recommended releases, be sure and check out the Louise Brooks Society GIFT SHOP. 

There, you'll find a curated selection of Louise Brooks related merchandise, items which most every fan will want to own for themselves. Displayed on the page is an assortment of movies and books recommended by LBS director Thomas Gladysz. This selection fulfills through Amazon.com (unless otherwise noted) and includes both new and used items, as well as a few rare, out-of-print, and hard-to-find collectibles. Your purchase through this page benefits the Louise Brooks Society. As an Amazon Associate, the LBS earns a very small amount from qualifying purchases. 

Here are a couple of items to temp you.

Lulu in Hollywood (expanded ed.) - the 2025 re-release
by Louise Brooks
purchase via amazon

 Pandora’s Box (Criterion Collection) - the 2K restoration
by G.W. Pabst
purchase via amazon

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 © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.    

Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, screens in the UK on November 30

Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, will be shown at the Rex Cinema Wareham in Wareham, England on Sunday, November 30th. This screening, presented by The Rex Cinema and South West Silents, is part of a weekend of classic silent films under the series title, "Silent Sirens: Divas, Danger, and Desire." More about this event can be found HERE (about the series) and HERE (the film). 

This Silents Weekend is part of the BFI's 'Too Much Melodrama' Season.’ With support from the BFI Film Audience Network- a UK-wide initiative funded by the National Lottery funding to increase audience access to a diverse range of films and screen culture by supporting independent cinemas, film festivals and other venues. 

Here is what the Rex Cinema has to say about Pandora's Box: "Director: G.W. Pabst Starring: Louise Brooks, Francis Lederer, Carl Goetz. G.W. Pabst's 1929 silent masterpiece Pandora's Box stars Louise Brooks in the role that secured her place as one of the immortal goddesses of the silver screen. This controversial, and in its day, heavily censored film is regularly ranked in the Top 100 films of all time (including Cahiers du Cinema and Sight & Sound). Brooks is unforgettable as Lulu (Louise Brooks), a sexy, amoral dancer who creates a trail of devastation as she blazes through Weimar-era Berlin, breaking hearts and destroying lives. From Germany, she flies to France, and finally to London, where tragedy strikes. This stunningly photographed film is loosely based on the controversial Lulu plays by Frank Wedekind, and also features one of the cinema's earliest lesbian characters." 

It is a great looking series. Here is what else is showing. 

Friday Gala Night- Dress-up & Fizz! 7:30pm
CHICAGO 1927 Roxie Hart, a fame-obsessed housewife who kills her lover in cold blood and, after trying to coerce her husband into taking the blame, is put on trial for murder- long considered a lost film, but a perfect print survived in Cecil B. DeMille’s private collection.

Saturday 2:30pm
SHOW LIFE 1928 The story of Song (Anna May Wong), “one of Fate’s castaways,” who is attacked on a beach in Istanbul and is rescued by John, a music-hall knife-thrower. . .

Saturday 4:30pm
PICADILLY 1929 Chinese-American screen goddess Anna May Wong stars as Shosho, a scullery maid in a fashionable London nightclub whose sensuous tabletop dance catches the eye of suave club owner Valentine Wilmot. . .

Saturday 8:15pm
OUR DANCING DAUGHTERS 1928 The film that reputedly catapulted Joan Crawford to stardom fizzes with all the sumptuous elegance and gin-fuelled glamour any wannabe-flapper could hope for.

Sunday 2:30pm
SHOOTING STARS 1928 After her actor husband discovers actress wife Mae Feather is having an affair with a screen comedian he instigates divorce proceedings that could ruin her career. In despair, Feather decides to kill Gordon by putting a real bullet in a prop . . .

Sunday 4:30pm
UNDER-GROUND 1928 A classic British film Bert, a brash electrician, and Bill, a gentle underground porter, both fall in love with a shop girl, on the same day, in the same underground station. . .

Sunday 8:15pm
PANDORA’S BOX The downward spiral of a vivacious showgirl, brought vibrantly to life by a live-wire Louise Brooks, wreaking casual havoc on all she encounters through the sheer power of charisma. . .

SHOW LIFE will have a live piano accompaniment. All other films will have their motion picture scores.

More information about Pandora's Box can be found on the Louise Brooks Society filmography page devoted to the film. And of course, the newest restoration of the film is available on both DVD and Blu-ray. 

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 © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.   

Happy Thanksgiving from the Louise Brooks Society

 Happy Thanksgiving from the Louise Brooks Society, 
since 1995 the leading source for all things Lulu.
Visit the LBS at https://www.pandorasbox.com/

 

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 © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.  

New Louise Brooks Society page group Lulu by the Bay

A new group of pages on the Louise Brooks Society website, Lulu by the Bay, has just been been completed. This new section on the LBS runs 26 pages. As is mentioned on the website, these pages are part of an experiment in local film history. 

Some years ago, I started work on a book about the films of Louise Brooks which was to be called Lulu by the Bay. It took a different approach. Instead of the usual look at Brooks films and their reception by national magazines and newspapers like Photoplay and the New York Times, I thought to focus my history through the lens of the local. Since then, on-and-off, I have continued researching the topic -- the films of Louise Brooks in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond -- and found dozens and dozens of articles and advertisements which document where and when the actress' films were shown. 

Lulu by the Bay presents a record of each documented screening of a particular Louise Brooks film in Northern California, from the time of its release through today. Recorded here are which city and at what venue and over what period of time (one week, three days, one day, etc…) any particular film was shown. Additionally noted are those occasions when a film was shown as part of a double bill, if there was a special guest appearance, or some other unusual circumstance, such as a benefit screening.

Over the years, I have come across some really remarkable material. Here is just one example, the time when Brooks made an in person appearance prior to a screening of Evening Clothes. Why did she do so? Because her and James Hall were in town filming Rolled Stocking! (BTW: this is one of only two documented times Brooks made an in-person appearance prior to the showing of one of her films.)

If interested,  please check out Lulu by the Bay. A bunch of newspaper advertisements have been added to the various pages. And if interested, please check out my Substack piece, "Lulu by the Bay: Some notes on an unfinished book."

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 © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. <

Re: Anthology Film Archives and Louise Brooks

As a follow-up to yesterday's blog post, I wanted to excerpt and add to something I posted back in 2019 regarding Jonas Mekas, one of the founder's of Anthology Film Archives. For those who may not be aware, Anthology Film Archives is an international center for the preservation, study, and exhibition of film and video, with a particular focus on independent, experimental, and avant-garde cinema.

"Opened in 1970 by Jonas Mekas, Jerome Hill, P. Adams Sitney, Peter Kubelka, and Stan Brakhage, Anthology in its original conception was a showcase for the Essential Cinema Repertory collection. An ambitious attempt to define the art of cinema by means of a selection of films which would screen continuously, the Essential Cinema collection was intended to encourage the study of the medium’s masterworks as works of art rather than disposable entertainment, making Anthology the first museum devoted to film as an art form." (Read more on the history of the Anthology Film Archives and the Essential Cinema Repertory collection.)

When Mekas passed away back in 2019, I posted a blog titled "I don't think they ever met, but Jonas Mekas played a small role in the later day life of Louise Brook". What follows is adapted from that blog.

Mekas wrote an influential column for the Village Voice. In fact, he was that publication's first film critic. Mekas also co-founded the influential magazine Film Culture with his brother Adolfas Mekas. According to the obit in the Guardian (UK), "The brothers founded one of the great American movie journals, the quarterly Film Culture, in 1954 – at a time when mainstream culture did not think those two words belonged next to each other. The quarterly was a forum for the exchange of ideas and information about the emergent avant garde cinema that would convulse the art and movie worlds for three decades: the new American cinema, as Mekas dubbed it, or American underground film, as it is now more commonly known. In Film Culture and his weekly column in the Village Voice (1959-1981), Mekas for years banged the drum for other and minor, alternative and iconoclastic kinds of film-making: a cinema, as he called it, 'less perfect and more free'. His ecumenical approach to film culture, by no means characteristic of the wider, often schismatic avant garde for which he was the foremost impresario, was part of his saintly appeal: if you were making film-art that was personal and sincerely conceived, Mekas was on your side, come what may."

I don't think that they ever met, but Jonas Mekas played a small role in the later life of Louise Brooks, in that other's noticed what Mekas noticed.

At a time when old movies and forgotten film stars didn't receive all that much press, Mekas name-checked Louise Brooks in his September 23, 1959 column in the Village Voice -- noting the forthcoming showing of a Brooks' film at the Film Center at the 92nd Street YM-YWHA. [The film was Prix de beaute (1930), which was making its American debut thirty years after it was first shown in Paris. Notably, among those in attendance were the poets Frank O'Hara and Bill Berkson, each of whom would write a poem inspired by Brooks.]

And, at a time when Louise Brooks was little remembered, she also appeared on the cover of the Fall 1965 issue of Mekas' magazine, Film Culture. (see above) It was only her third post WWII cover.

Additionally, Mekas published an early article by Brooks, "Charlie Chaplin Remembered," in the Spring 1966 issue of Film Culture. It was only her second published piece in the United States, and it certainly helped raise her profile among the film world's intelligentsia. 

In the years that followed, Film Culture would publish other pieces by Brooks including "On Location with Billy Wellman" (Spring 1972) and "Marion Davies' Niece," (October 1974) and "Why I Will Never Write My Memoirs" (issue 67-68-69, 1979). In the latter issue, she is name-checked on the cover, alongside other significant figure like Brooks-devotee Bruce Conner, Kenneth Anger, and Blaise Cendrars (each of whom also figure to some degree in Brooks' later life and legend.)

A couple days ago, November 18th, would have been Bruce Connor's birthday. Conner (1933 – 2008) was an American artist renowned for his work in assemblage, drawing, sculpture, painting, collage, and photography, among other disciplines, including film. In fact, three of his films, along with a number by Kenneth Anger, are included among the Anthology Film Archives listing of Essential Cinema Repertory.

Conner was also a devotee of Louise Brooks. And on more than one occasion, he told me of his lifelong interest in the actress. They both grew up in Wichita, Kansas.

Back in 1997, I mounted a small exhibit about Louise Brooks at a small neighborhood cafe in San Francisco. Conner, who lived in the next neighborhood over, read about it in the local paper and visited the exhibit. Conner must have appreciated my little exhibit, which was made up of film stills, vintage magazine covers, sheet music, and other ephemera I had collected. Conner even wrote a note in the guestbook. I was wowed, and flattered, to say the least, as I had long been interested in Bruce Conner's art. (I can't really fix a date on the beginning of my deep interest in the artist, but it could date to around the time I read Rebecca Solnit's brilliant 1990 book, Secret Exhibition: Six California Artists of the Cold War Era.) Well, anyways, here is that note.

In 2006, the Louise Brooks centenary was celebrated by many including the San Francisco Silent Film Festival when they showed a new restoration of Louise Brooks' celebrated film, Pandora's Box. I was asked to introduce the film, and to introduce a special guest with a special connection, Bruce Conner; the artist spoke about what the actress meant to him and his near encounter with the silent film star years before. Here is a snapshot of the occasion.

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 © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. <meta name="fediverse:creator" content="@LouiseBrooksSociety@sfba.social">

Anthology Film Archives series includes new G.W. Pabst documentary and two films starring Louise Brooks

The Anthology Film Archives in New York City is hosting a major retrospective of films by G.W. Pabst which includes not only two masterpieces featuring Louise Brooks, PANDORA'S BOX and DIARY OF A LOST GIRL, but also such classics as WESTFRONT 1918, KAMERADSCHAFT and other works. Anchoring the series is PANDORA'S LEGACY, a 2024 documentary about Pabst by Angela Christlieb, which is making its New York premiere. 

The series, which is presented in collaboration with the German Film Office, an initiative of the Goethe-Institut and German Films, runs November 22 through December 3. More information, including ticket availability, can be found HERE.

Here is what the Anthology Film Archives says about the series: "One of the most influential cinematic voices of Weimar-era Germany, #GWPabst bears a legacy as complex and diverse as the 20th century itself. This retrospective features Pabst’s most essential films, including classics like PANDORA'S BOX, DIARY OF A LOST GIRL, and THE THREEPENNY OPERA. 

Headlining the series is the New York premiere of PANDORA'S LEGACY, a new documentary film by Angela Christlieb that explores the filmmaker’s enduring appeal through the eyes of his lifelong partner Trude Pabst. Q&As with Christlieb Nov 21–23 and 30!"

I have just seen this new documentary, which I blogged about back in May. It is fascinating. Here is what the Anthology Film Archives says about Christlieb's film: "The new film by Angela Christlieb – whose previous documentary-fiction hybrids URVILLE (2009), NAKED OPERA (2013), WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GELITIN (2016), and UNDER THE UNDERGROUND (2019), have all been showcased at Anthology in past years – PANDORA’S LEGACY is a journey through the family universe of renowned German filmmaker G.W. Pabst, told through the eyes of the woman who was his great love and lifelong partner: Trude Pabst.

“Georg Wilhelm Pabst was one of the world’s most well-respected filmmakers during the 1920s and early ’30s. Described as a staunch socialist auteur, Pabst became something of a black sheep during the 1940s, when he agreed to work for the Nazi industry – the circumstances under which are still up for discussion. In cinematic ‘politics’, Pabst is a left-wing love affair gone dreadfully bad, with few inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Angela Christlieb approaches Pabst from an angle that feels eerie: his family. There’s his writer-actress-artistic confidante wife, Trude, who’s present solely through words and archival images. Some of their children and other relatives who are still around and willing to discuss this seemingly mysterious man make an appearance too. PANDORA’S LEGACY is less about the meaning of Pabst in cinema and more about the imprint of his life and work on those closest to him. It’s fascinating to hear the letters Georg and Trude wrote to one another when they were young; it becomes mesmerizing when his next of kin discuss him in detail, separating the myths from their precious recollections. PANDORA’S LEGACY looks at film history from a different angle – how rare and precious!” –Olaf Möller, ROTTERDAM FILM FESTIVAL"

And here is the trailer for this new documentary.

Both PANDORA'S BOX and DIARY OF A LOST GIRL will be shown three times, as will PANDORA'S LEGACY. If you live in the New York City area, don't miss this special event!

PANDORA'S BOX will be screened November 22, 26, and 30. Here is what the Anthology Film Archives says about the film: "Pabst had an innate talent for discovering actresses (including Greta Garbo), and perhaps none of his female stars shone brighter than Kansas native and onetime Ziegfeld girl Louise Brooks, whose legendary persona was defined by Pabst’s lurid, controversial melodrama PANDORA’S BOX. Sensationally modern, the film follows the downward spiral of the fiery, brash, yet innocent showgirl Lulu, whose sexual vivacity has a devastating effect on everyone she comes in contact with. Daring and stylish, PANDORA’S BOX is one of silent cinema’s great masterworks."

DIARY OF A LOST GIRL will be screened November 23 and 28 and December 3. I was pleased to find that the Anthology Film Archives quoted me in their description: here is what the venue says about the film: “The second and final collaboration between Pabst and Louise Brooks is a provocative adaptation of Margarethe Böhme’s notorious novel, in which the naive daughter of a middle-class pharmacist is seduced by her father’s assistant, only to be disowned and sent to a repressive home for wayward girls. She escapes, searches for her child, and ends up in a high-class brothel, only to turn the tables on the society which had abused her.” –Thomas Gladysz

A publicity pic for Pandora's Box with Louise Brooks
(second from left) and G.W. Pabst (far right)

More information about PANDORA'S BOX can be found on the Louise Brooks Society filmography page devoted to the film. It is a multi-page extravaganza of information and images.

 

More about DIARY OF A LOST GIRL can be found on the Louise Brooks Society website on its filmography page devoted to the film. It is also packed with information and images.

 

 

G.W. Pabst directing Louise Brooks in Diary of a Lost Girl

In 2010,  the Louise Brooks Society published a corrected and annotated edition of the original 1907 English language translation -- notably, this edition, the first in English in 100 years -- brought this important work of feminist literature back into print in English. It includes an introduction by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society, detailing the book's remarkable history and relationship to the 1929 silent film. This special "Louise Brooks Edition" also includes more than three dozen vintage illustrations.  (Purchase on amazon.)

 

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 © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. <meta name="fediverse:creator" content="@LouiseBrooksSociety@sfba.social">

It's the Old Army Game, with W.C. Fields and Louise Brooks, screens in London

It's the Old Army Game, with W.C. Fields and Louise Brooks, will be shown at the wonderful Kennington Bioscope in London on Sunday, November 23. More information about this event can be found HERE.

Here is what the Kennington Bioscope says about the film: "Though posterity remembers him as a talking comedian, the great W.C. Fields – enemy of small dogs and children everywhere – made some wonderful silent comedies. This 1926 feature follows the trials and tribulations of small-town druggist Elmer Prettywillie (Fields) and boasts some terrific comic set pieces, from his encounters with difficult customers to a nightmare picnic. It later provided the blueprint for his 1934 classic It’s A Gift, and also features an unlikely co-star: silent icon Louise Brooks! Piano accompaniment by Colin Sell." 

More information about It's the Old Army Game can be found on the Louise Brooks Society filmography page devoted to the film.  

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 © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.   

Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, screens in Northern Ireland with a live score by People That Listen to the Sky

Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, will be screened November 29th in Northern Ireland as part of the Foyle Film Festival in Derry - Londonderry. This special screening at the Nerve Centre will feature a live musical score by People that Listen to the Sky. More about this event can be found HERE. 

The Foyle Film Festival is Northern Ireland's longest running film festival. Here is what they say about this event:

"One of the masters of early German cinema, G. W. Pabst had an innate talent for discovering actresses (including Greta Garbo). And perhaps none of his female stars shone brighter than Kansas native and onetime Ziegfeld girl Louise Brooks, whose legendary persona was defined by this melodrama of lust, greed and violence.

Pabst’s startlingly modern adaptation of Wedekind’s Lulu plays follows the downward spiral of a vivacious showgirl, brought vibrantly to life by Brooks, wreaking casual havoc on all she encounters through the sheer power of charisma. Daring and stylish, Pandora's Box is one of silent cinema's great masterworks and a testament to Brooks's dazzling individuality.

People That Listen to the Sky is a multinational, multi-instrumental project based in the Northwest of Ireland (Derry/Donegal). With three core members, the group creates immersive soundscapes that fuse dark ambient, post-rock, experimental, and electronic elements which has been described as cinematic, atmospheric, and dark."

G.W. Pabst | Germany | 1929 | 134 mins | Silent Film | PG

 

 

Celebrating its 38th year in 2025, Foyle Film Festival takes place in venues across Derry~Londonderry each November to bring the best of international cinema and industry players to the city.

More about People That Listen to the Sky can be found on their SoundCloud page, where you can listen to extended cuts. 

More information about Pandora's Box can be found on the Louise Brooks Society filmography page devoted to the film.  

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 © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.   

BOTD Louise Brooks ( November 14, 1906 ) Happy Birthday Brooksie

Happy birthday to Louise Brooks, who was born on this day, November 14th, in Cherryvale, Kansas in 1906.

Though I am not sure when, Louise was seemingly born in the very early hours of  November 14th -- which was a Wednesday. I say that because her birth made news on the very day she was born. Small articles about the birth appeared in both of her hometown newspapers on November 14. The first image shown below comes from the Cherryvale Daily Republican. It is followed by another clipping, from the Cherryvale Daily News, which appeared that same day on the newspaper's front page. As most Brooks' fans likely know, Brooks' father was a lawyer.

And just a few years later, the young little Mary Louise was photographed celebrating her birthday....

Louise Brooks grew-up and became a dancer, silent film star and eventually a writer. And the world, as is said, has never been the same. Here is a very early newspaper clipping celebrating her achievement. If you haven't watched a Louise Brooks film in a while, go ahead and watch one today...

More about Louise Brooks can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website at www.pandorasbox.com

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 © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. 

Remembering Richard Lamparski

American radio broadcaster and author Richard Lamparski, whose popular series of books, Whatever Happened to ...?, included profiles and interviews with dozens of film personalities, has died. He was 93 years old.

Lamparski started an interview radio show on WBAI in March 1965, for which he interviewed old time entertainers including vaudeville performers and silent movie stars. Over the course of his career, Lamparski conducted more than 1,000 interviews. His long-running series of books, Whatever Happened to ...?, devoted to "famous personalities of yesteryear", ran 11 volumes. Notably, the third volume in the series -- which was published in 1970, included a two page profile of Louise Brooks. It was among the earliest mainstream pieces on the actress following her rediscovery in the 1950s.

 

Lamparski's two page profile of Louise Brooks can be found HERE. Seemingly, the author either corresponded with or spoke with the actress, as she is quoted in the piece.

A 2010 interview with Lamparski can be found on The Showbiz Wizard blog. 

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 © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. 

The City Gone Wild, featuring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1927

The City Gone Wild, featuring Louise Brooks, was released on this day in 1927. The film is a terse crime drama -- with gangsters, gangs, and gunfights, in which a criminal lawyer turns prosecutor to avenge the death of a friend. As she did in The Street of Forgotten Men, Louise Brooks plays a moll, this time the deliciously named Snuggles Joy, the “gunman’s honey.”

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

The “gangster film” (as we know it today) more-or-less began with Paramount’s Underworld (1927). Though there were earlier crime films, the Joseph von Sternberg directed Underworld set the tone for many of the genre films which followed, namely Little Caesar (1931), The Public Enemy (1931), and Scarface (1932).

With the surprising success of Underworld, Paramount quickly put another gangster film into production, namely The City Gone Wild. The film was a vehicle for leading man Thomas Meighan, who in 1927 saw his star begining to fade. To boost his career, Paramount paired Meighan with a topical story “ripped from the headlines,” a first rate director, and popular supporting actors. Also assigned to The City Gone Wild were individuals who worked on Underworld, namely writer Charles Furthman, cinematographer Bert Glennon, and tough-guy actor Fred Kohler.

The two films, not surprisingly, were sometimes compared. Intoning the slang of the time, Variety wrote, “The gang stuff is a la Underworld — machine guns and plenty tough. The two main yeggs each have a moll carrying their gat in the pocketbook. Very authentic in these little details ….”

Many critics focused on the acting and actors. The noted critic Ward M. Marsh of the Cleveland Plain Dealer stated, ” . . . pitting her against crookdom’s love of Louise Brooks brings out the worst in all of us. On the credit side is Miss Brooks and also Fred Kohler in a role paralleling his Mulligan in Underworld. They do excellent work.” The San Antonio Express echoed Marsh, “Although Meighan is featured in the cast, he has his co-stars, Louise Brooks, one of Paramount’s niftiest, and Fred Kohler, remembered for his great crook work in Rough Riders and Underworld.”

Critics noticed Brooks’ hard-boiled character, and the edge she brought to the role. Radie Harris of the New York Morning Telegraph wrote, “Louise Brooks is in the cast and that is something to grow ecstatic about. Christened with the preposterous name of Snuggles Joy, she is the most entrancing crook that ever pulled a Holt. No wonder the city went wild.”

“Another distinct ornament of the cast is Louise Brooks, who lends considerable vividness to her portrait of a lady of the underworld. In fact, she gives so good an interpretation of the part that Marietta Millner, supposedly the feminine lead, actually relapses into only secondary importance,” wrote Gordon Hillman of the Boston Daily Advertiser.

Brooks was so good that she out shown Millner, who had appeared earlier in the year with Meighan in the Cruze directed film We’re All Gamblers. “Louise Brooks, who plays the crook’s girl, is better looking, more attractive and a better actress than Marietta Millner, the district attorney’s jeune fille, and in real life Tommy probably would have preferred her to Marietta,” wrote Stanley Orne in the Portland Oregonian. “Louise Brooks, the pert flapper, completely shadows the more important role allotted to Marietta Millner, and the ‘girl of Gunner Gallagher’ brief as her part is, is a far more intriguing character than the society girl of Miss Millner,” added Leona Pollack of the Omaha World Herald.

Under its American title, documented screenings of the film took place in Australia (including Tasmania), Bermuda, Canada,* China, Dutch Guiana (Suriname), Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, and the United Kingdom** (England, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). The film was occasionally shown in the United States as City Gone Wild  (and at least once in Scotland under the title A City Gone Wild). In the United States, the film was also presented under the title A Cidade que Enlouqueceu (Portuguese-language press).

Elsewhere, The City Gone Wild was shown under the title The City Gone Mad and La ciudad del mal (Argentina); Der Verbrecherkönig von Chicago (Austria); La cité maudite (Belgium, in French) and De Vervloekte Stad (Belgium, in Dutch); A cidade buliçosa (Brazil); La ciudad del mal (Chile); La ciudad del mal (Costa Rica); Mesto uplynulý divoký (Czechoslovakia); Storhyens Svøbe and Storstadens Svøbe! (Denmark); Het Kwaad eener Wereldstad (Dutch East Indies – Indonesia); La Ville Maudite (Egypt); La Ville Maudite (France); Gonosztevők királya (Hungary);  狂乱街 or Kyōran-gai (Japan); Die Gottin der Sunde (Latvia); La onda del crimen (Mexico); Boeven en Burgers and Het Zondagskindand Het Kwaad Eener Wereldstad (The Netherlands***); Piraci Wielkiego Miasta (Poland); A Cidade Ruidosa (Portugal); Gonosztevok kiralya (Romania); La ciudad del mal (Spain); and La Cité Maudite (Switzerland).

* Except in Quebec, where the film was banned due to “too much shooting.”
** When the film was shown in The United Kingdom, it was restricted to adults only.
*** When the film was shown in The Netherlands in 1929-1930 and again in 1934, audiences were limited to those 18 years and older.

SOME THINGS ABOUT THE FILM YOU MAY NOT KNOW:

— Thomas Meighan, the star of the film, was Louise Brooks’ “uncle-in-law.” (Meighan was married to Frances Ring, a Broadway stage actress and the sister of the popular entertainer Blanche Ring. Director Eddie Sutherland — Brooks’ husband at the time, was the nephew of both Meighan, as Sutherland’s mother, Julie, was a sister of Blanche and Frances Ring.)

— Meighan was involved in two of the more sensational happenings of the silent era. In 1916, he was the sole witness to Jack Pickford and Olive Thomas’ secretive wedding. And in 1923, Meighan put up a large chunk of the bail money, and with the help of June Mathis and George Melford, got Rudolph Valentino out of jail after he was charged with bigamy.

— In the mid-1920s, Meighan became interested in Florida real estate after talking with his brother, who was a realtor. In 1925, Meighan bought property in Ocala, Florida (where scenes for the Eddie Sutherland-directed It’s the Old Army Game were shot). In 1927, he built a home in New Port Richey, Florida. It was there that he spent his winters and helped support a local movie theater, the Meighan Theatre, which was named in his honor. The Meighan Theatre opened July 1, 1926, with a showing of the Meighan movie The New Klondike, a film set against the backdrop of the Florida land boom of the 1920s. Today, the renamed Richey Suncoast Theater is home to the annual Thomas Meighan film festival.

— Brooks never learned to drive an automobile. According to the actress, a double was employed when her character was needed to speed away in a car.

More about The City Gone Wild can be found on the newly revamped Louise Brooks Society website on its The City Gone Wild (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 © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. 

Louise Brooks double bill screens in London on November 11

Two of Louise Brooks' best films, Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl, will be shown at the Nickel in London on November 11. The Nickel -- a "fully licensed grindhouse cinema, bar and video shop" -- is located in London at 117-119 Clerkenwell Road. More information about this double bill can be found HERE.

The two films are being presented by Women and Cocaine. The event descriptions read this way:

Diary of a Lost Girl: "Thymian Henning, an innocent young girl, is raped by the clerk of her father’s pharmacy. She becomes pregnant, is rejected by her family, and must fend for herself in a harsh, cruel world." (6:00 pm showtime, tickets)

Pandora's Box: "Lulu is a young woman so beautiful and alluring that few can resist her siren charms. The men drawn into her web include respectable newspaper publisher Dr. Ludwig Schön, his musical producer son Alwa, circus performer Rodrigo Quast, and seedy old Schigolch. When Lulu’s charms inevitably lead to tragedy, the downward spiral encompasses them all." (8:30 showtime, tickets)

Portrait of Louise Brooks, taken in Germany

Surprisingly, it's a bit unusual for the two Louise Brooks' films directed by G.W. Pabst to be shown as part of a double bill. 

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 © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.   

New cover for Louise Brooks Lulu in Hollywood revealed

A new cover for Louise Brooks' acclaimed book of essays, Lulu in Hollywood, has just been revealed. This bold new design has now shown up on public library online catalogs (that's where I first noticed it), along with commercial sites such as amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Books-a-Million. What do you think?

As with the previous "expanded edition" published in 2000, this new look edition is published by the University of Minnesota Press. And like the 2000 edition, this 2025 edition owes a little something to its existence to the efforts of the Louise Brooks Society. More on that later.... One wonders, can a first ever e-book release of Lulu in Hollywood be far behind?

For more on Lulu in Hollywood, be sure and check out the Louise Brooks Society pages on the book, which includes a history of the book, an annotated bibliography of reviews, and a gallery of covers from all around the world.

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 © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.  

Adapting Sex on Screen: the Cinematic Biographies of Lulu, La Ronde and Venus in Furs

There is a new book out which should be of interest to fans of Louise Brooks and the Lulu archetype. The book, by Julian Preece, is titled Adapting Sex on Screen: the Cinematic Biographies of Lulu, La Ronde and Venus in Furs (Bloomsbury Academic). The book is out in the UK, but won't be released in the United States until January.

The publisher just sent me a pdf copy. And though I have not had time to really dig into it, the chapters I've glanced at regarding Lulu and Louise Brooks and Pandora's Box look detailed and fascinating. And recommended for the discerning reader. I was also pleased to see a footnote and an acknowledgement, "Thomas Gladysz from the Louise Brooks Society and Molly Harrabin from the Weimar Film Network have responded generously to my queries...."

The Louise Brooks Society was also mentioned in chapter six. "Brooks eclipses Pabst and Wedekind as the transmitter of the Lulu story and excreted a fascination in wider US culture. The first of many biographies of the rediscovered silent-screen star appeared in 1989, four years after her death. Thomas Gladysz formed the Louise Brooks Society in 1995, which provided a focal point for fans and scholars alike on the new forum of the internet. Gladysz's catalogue of Brooks's literary and pop culture afterlives is encyclopedia and surely unique for a 1920s star."

The publisher description reads: "Tracing the adaptation histories of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's novel Venus in Furs, Arthur Schnitzler's play La Ronde, and Frank Wedekind's play Lulu, Julian Preece explores how these works were censored, celebrated, and adapted for the screen from pre-World War I Austria to modern day United States.

Through case studies of filmmakers like Max Ophüls, G.W. Pabst, and Roman Polanski, this book explores how directors have used sexual themes to push boundaries and critique societal norms. From Pandora's Box (1929) to La Ronde (1950), these films captured shifting attitudes toward sex, confronting issues such as Nazism, Hollywood censorship under the Hays Code, and the AIDS crisis. Preece also highlights how marginalised voices-particularly women and minorities-have fought for sexual rights on and off the screen.

This compelling analysis will appeal to students, scholars, and general readers interested in the intersection of film, literature, and sexuality. Adapting Sex on Screen provides a nuanced and engaging look at how cinematic portrayals of sex have both reflected and shaped social change, making it an essential resource for understanding the ongoing cultural significance of these provocative works."

Julian Preece is Professor of German at Swansea University, UK. His articles have featured in The German Monitor, German Life and Letters, and Monatshefte. His previous books include the BFI Film Classic The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum (2022), Günter Grass (2018), Baader-Meinhof and the Novel: Narratives of the Nation / Fantasies of the Revolution, 1970-2010 (2012), and Out of the Shadows of a Husband: The Rediscovered Writings of Veza Canetti (2007).

 

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 © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. 

Louise Brooks twice referenced in new Thomas Pynchon novel, Shadow Ticket

Louise Brooks is referenced twice in the new Thomas Pynchon novel, Shadow Ticket (Penguin Press). This latest novel from the bestselling author of Gravity's Rainbow, The Crying of Lot 49, Vineland, and Inherent Vice has been described by the Washington Post as “Bonkers and brilliant fun.” The Los Angeles Times called it “Late Pynchon at his finest. Dark as a vampire’s pocket, light-fingered as a jewel thief, Shadow Ticket capers across the page with breezy, baggy-pants assurance — and then pauses on its way down the fire escape just long enough to crack your heart open.”

Set in 1932, the book follows the adventures of "Hicks McTaggart, a onetime strikebreaker turned private eye, [who] thinks he’s found job security until he gets sent out on what should be a routine case, locating and bringing back the heiress of a Wisconsin cheese fortune who’s taken a mind to go wandering. Before he knows it, he’s been shanghaied onto a transoceanic liner, ending up eventually in Hungary where there’s no shoreline, a language from some other planet, and enough pastry to see any cop well into retirement—and of course no sign of the runaway heiress he’s supposed to be chasing. By the time Hicks catches up with her he will find himself also entangled with Nazis, Soviet agents, British counterspies, swing musicians, practitioners of the paranormal, outlaw motorcyclists, and the troubles that come with each of them, none of which Hicks is qualified, forget about being paid, to deal with. Surrounded by history he has no grasp on and can’t see his way around in or out of, the only bright side for Hicks is it’s the dawn of the Big Band Era and as it happens he’s a pretty good dancer. Whether this will be enough to allow him somehow to Lindy-hop his way back again to Milwaukee and the normal world, which may no longer exist, is another question."

In chapter one, Hicks mentions what he likes in a woman, "A dame with some moxie instead of one more baby-talking lulu." And then a little later on, in chapter three, Hicks is talking with a woman named April who "has this habit of unexpectedly squeaking into a high-pitched flapper voice" -- something which Hicks doesn't care for. "Baby-vamp vocalizing" doesn't work on him, let alone appeal to him, and Hicks suggests a different approach. “Well, let’s see, you could do Louise Brooks, or Clara Bow—” (first reference)

April responds, “They’re from back before the talkies. Silent.” 

To which Hicks humorously replies, “That’s the word I’m tryin to think of—”

Later on, Hicks is speaking with a woman named Daphne about her gentlemen friend. “Yes and while we’re on the subject, you’re sure, Daphne, now, about your—about, um, that Hop Wingdale? who could come strolling in here any minute—you’re sure he don’t mind that we…”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but we have a free and forgiving arrangement, yes many’s the time I’ve come upon him in the sweaty clutches of some Swing Girl barely into her teens, Louise Brooks hairdo, nighttime makeup in the daylight hours and all.....” (second reference)

Besides Louise Brooks and Clara Bow -- for those early film buffs keeping track -- there are also references to other late Twenties and early Thirties stars such as Harold Lloyd, Fred Astaire, Bela Lugosi, W.C. Fields, William Powell, James Cagney, Greta Garbo, Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and the wonderful Joan Blondell. And also Charlie Chaplin. Hicks is at dinner, and the subject of Adolph Hitler comes up... "footage that will make him look crazy or comical, funny little guy, funny walk, funny mustache, German Charlie Chaplin, how serious could he be?" This quip is prophetic, as Chaplin would use parody the Nazi leader.in his 1940 film The Great Dictator.

And there are references to musicians such as Cab Calloway and even Lud Gluskin, whose Detroit dance band was once stranded in Paris.. 

Louise Brooks admires a bust of Dante, circa 1931

For more on this sort of thing -- whether in fiction, poetry, art, music, etc..., be sure and check out "Homage to Lulu" 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 © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. 

Reminder: Pandora's Box shows in NYC as part of Screen Deco series

A reminder that Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, will be shown on November 1 at Film Forum in New York City as part of the Screen Deco series. The screening for the 1929 German classic will feature an in-person introduction by author Daniel Kehlmann, whose recent novel,  The Director, was inspired by the life of G.W. Pabst. (Louise Brooks is a character in the novel as well.)  More information can be found HERE.

The Screen Deco series is presented in association with the Art Deco Society of New York. If you don't live in New York City or can't make the series, be sure and check out the schedule of films as it makes for a worthwhile list of films to track down and see! 

 

More information about Pandora's Box can be found on the Louise Brooks Society filmography page devoted to the film. And of course, the newest restoration of the film is available on both DVD and Blu-ray. 

 

 

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 © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. 

Happy Halloween from the Louise Brooks Society

 Happy Halloween from the Louise Brooks Society! 

 

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 © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. 

1929 Romanian crossword puzzle featuring Louise Brooks

Can you solve this 1929 Romanian crossword puzzle featuring Louise Brooks? It was published in Realitatea Ilustrata in January 1929. It doesn't seem as though any of the clues have anything to do with the actress, but if I am wrong, please let me know.

 

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 © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.