A cinephilac blog about an actress, silent film, and the Jazz Age, with occasional posts about related books, music, art, and history written by Thomas Gladysz. Visit the Louise Brooks Society™ at www.pandorasbox.com
The sensational 1929 Louise Brooks' film Diary of a Lost Girl will be shown at the BFI Southbank in London, England in June as part of the Weimar Cinema 1919-1933 series. Diary will be shown twice, on Thursday, June 13 and Saturday, June 15, 2019. More information about this event, including ticket availability, can be found HERE.
Diary of a Lost Girl / Tagebuch einer Verlorenen
Iconic silent movie star Louise Brooks plays a woman who suffers at the hands of men, but refuses to be victim.
Germany 1929
Director G.W. Pabst
With Louise Brooks, Fritz Rasp, Valeska Gert
113min / Digital / English subtitles
Certificate PG
Louise Brooks gives a performance of radiant vitality and real depth
as a young woman who suffers at the hands of a grotesque assortment of
men, but refuses – despite everything – to be a victim. Pabst scathingly
depicts the poverty and hypocrisy by which women’s lives are routinely
destroyed. A heady cocktail of lurid eroticism, knockabout humour and
genuine pathos.
Print and permission courtesy Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung.
With Javier Pérez de Azpeitia score (June 13), with live piano accompaniment (June 15).
The screening on Thursday 13 June will be introduced by film critic Pamela Hutchinson, author of a recent and rather excellent book on Pandora's Box.
The folks at the Brooklyn Public Library love Louise Brooks and silent film. They have shown Brooks' films a number of times. On Sunday April 14, the library is presenting a matinee screening of Diary of a Lost Girl, the once controversial Brooks' film from 1929. For those just discovering Brooks through her portrayal in the new PBS Masterpiece film, The Chaperone, here's a great opportunity to one of her great films. More information may be found HERE.
LOUISE BROOKS: SOULS LOST AND FOUND
Sunday, April 14, 2019 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Central Library, Dweck Center
DIARY OF A LOST GIRL (1929) 112 minutes Germany
Kansas-born Louise Brooks traveled to Germany to collaborate with director Georg Wilhelm Pabst on two movies, Pandora’s Box
(1929) and Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), which is based on Margarete Böhme’s
controversial and best-selling novel. She plays Thymian, the teenage daughter of
a middle-class pharmacist, whose swift fall and slow rise begins after
she is molested by her father’s assistant, becomes pregnant, is sent to a
reform-school, and escapes to find refuge in a brothel in this tragic
look at self-righteous bourgeois-hypocrisy, and the price of
sexual-freedom, in a male-privileged culture and society.
Directed by G.W. Pabst.
Image courtesy of Kino Lorber, Inc.
Live Piano Accompaniment by Bernie Anderson. Hosted & Curated by Ken Gordon.
All movie start times are 12:00 Noon. Central Library
does not open until 1 pm, but patrons attending film screenings may
enter the Dweck Center beginning at 11:45 am through the side entrance
on Eastern Parkway. Introductions begin promptly at 12:00 Noon.
Children under the age of six will not be admitted to these shows. Silent Movie Matinee is supported by Los Blancos.
The new film from PBS Masterpiece, The Chaperone, is an enjoyable period piece which all fans of Louise Brooks will want to see. I like it, and you may too.
Based on Laura Moriarty’s 2012 novel of the same name, which in turn is based on real incidents in Brooks’ life, The Chaperone focuses on the fictional story of the woman (played by Elizabeth McGovern) who accompanied the teenage Brooks (played by Haley Lu Richardson) to New York City in the summer of 1922. As most fans know, the future film star left her home in Wichita, Kansas to study dance with Denishawn.
As might be expected of an historical drama from PBS, this production gets a lot of the details right -- especially in regards to costuming and the film's Jazz Age ambiance (vintage cars, vintage interiors, and even vintage attitudes). The film also gets things right in regards to its nuanced depiction of Denishawn, no doubt due to the guidance of dance historian Suzanne Shelton, author of the excellent Divine Dancer: A Biography of Ruth St. Denis, who is listed in the credits.
However, the film stumbles in regards to certain aspects of Brooks and film history. The Chaperone begins and ends with a scene (twenty years later) where McGovern's character visits her now older friend, who is up in her room licking her wounds after her film career has collapsed. As McGovern's character climbs the stairs to the room where the fallen star is hiding out, the camera glimpses walls covered with framed magazine covers, portraits, stills and film posters highlighting Brooks’ meteoric career. According to the film, these were items collected by Brooks’ mother.
Perhaps for the sake of visual consistency, the filmmakers have inserted Haley Lu Richardson’s likeness in place of Brooks - each item nevertheless corresponds to recognizable magazine covers, photographic portraits and film poster from Brooks' career. However, this is where The Chaperone gets it wrong, in that two of the posters shown date from decades later. Those two posters are shown below.
The poster for Pandora’s Box is a nifty fan creation, and is less than ten years old. The French poster for Diary of a Lost Girl (Le Journal d'une fille perdue) dates from the 1980s or 1990s, when the film was revived for the first time.
What’s more, even if they weren't historical anomalies, Brooks’ mother would not have been able to acquire posters of these two films. As most film buffs know, Pandora’s Box was a German release with a troubled history. It was largely considered a flop, received mostly negative reviews, and suffered only limited distribution in the United States. In fact, it was shown on less than ten occasions in the United States, and was certainly not shown in Wichita or anywhere near Kansas until at least four or five decades later, well after this scene takes place. The same goes for Diary of a Lost Girl, an even more problematic release which didn't debut in the United States until the late 1950s. It too did not show in Wichita until many years later.
In that same closing scene, McGovern's character tells Louise not to make light of her accomplishments as an actress, saying “As for the German films, Pandora’s Box haunted me for weeks.” Again, this is an historical little white lie meant to advance the story-line. The chaperone could not have seen either of Brooks' German films -- unless she had traveled to Taliesin, the home of Frank Lloyd Wright in southwestern Wisconsin, in May of 1934. That's the closest Pandora’s Box ever came to Kansas back in the day.
The Chaperone's heart is in the right place. It is an otherwise well intended and historically correct tribute to Brooks. One lovely bit that pleased me is the clip of Brooks’ shown dancing a Denishawn routine in Pandora’s Box as The Chaperone credits are set to roll. It’s an appropriate touch.
Go see The Chaperone. And let us know what you think. Here is a slightly different trailer for the film. For information about the film can be found at www.thechaperonefilm.com.
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"
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.
The folks at the Brooklyn Public Library love Louise Brooks and silent film. They have shown Brooks' films a number of times. Two weeks from today, on Sunday April 14, the library is presenting a matinee screening of Diary of a Lost Girl, the once controversial Brooks' film from 1929. For those just discovering Brooks through her portrayal in the new PBS Masterpiece film, The Chaperone, here's a great opportunity to one of her great films. More information may be found HERE.
LOUISE BROOKS: SOULS LOST AND FOUND
Sunday, April 14, 2019 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Central Library, Dweck Center
DIARY OF A LOST GIRL (1929) 112 minutes Germany
Kansas-born Louise Brooks traveled to Germany to collaborate with director Georg Wilhelm Pabst on two movies, Pandora’s Box
(1929) and Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), which is based on Margarete Böhme’s
controversial and best-selling novel. She plays Thymian, the teenage daughter of
a middle-class pharmacist, whose swift fall and slow rise begins after
she is molested by her father’s assistant, becomes pregnant, is sent to a
reform-school, and escapes to find refuge in a brothel in this tragic
look at self-righteous bourgeois-hypocrisy, and the price of
sexual-freedom, in a male-privileged culture and society.
Directed by G.W. Pabst.
Image courtesy of Kino Lorber, Inc.
Live Piano Accompaniment by Bernie Anderson. Hosted & Curated by Ken Gordon.
All movie start times are 12:00 Noon. Central Library
does not open until 1 pm, but patrons attending film screenings may
enter the Dweck Center beginning at 11:45 am through the side entrance
on Eastern Parkway. Introductions begin promptly at 12:00 Noon.
Children under the age of six will not be admitted to these shows. Silent Movie Matinee is supported by Los Blancos.
Want to Learn more about Louise Brooks and Diary of a Lost Girl? 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.
The sensational 1929 Louise Brooks' film, The Diary of a Lost Girl, will be shown at the New York Public Library on Sunday, November 25th at 2:00 pm. This special event is part of a two-part series called "Silent Sirens on Sundays!" More information can be found HERE.
Silent Sirens: Olive Thomas and Louise Brooks
Writer and producer Michele Gouveia will introduce both films.
Presented in the first floor Willa Cather Community Room, NYPL.
All events are free and open to the public.
The Flapper, Sunday, November 11 at 2:00 pm
The Flapper(1920), directed by Alan
Crosland, tells the story of Ginger King (Olive Thomas), a bored
schoolgirl who dreams of romantic adventures. In an attempt to become
more sophisticated, she unwittingly gets mixed up with some crooks who
entrust her with stolen jewels. When they come after her, she realizes
that she must forget her childish dreams and save the day.
Olive Thomas (1894-1920) was a model and Follies girl who was named
the most beautiful girl in New York City. She made her screen debut in
1916 in the serial Beatrix Fairfax and would go on to make 22 films before her untimely death at the age of 25. The Flapper, one of her biggest films, marked the first time the term “flapper” was used in an American film.
Diary of a Lost Girl , Sunday, November 25 at 2:00 pm
Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), directed by
G.W. Pabst, tells the story of Thymian Henning (Louise Brooks), a naïve
young girl who after getting pregnant by her father’s assistant, is sent
by her family to a repressive reform school from which she eventually
escapes. Penniless and homeless, she winds up in a brothel where she
lives for the moment with physical abandon.
Louise Brooks (1906-1985), the girl with the black bob, was a dancer
and actress who after making a string of films in Hollywood gave it all
up to go to Germany and play the lead in G. W. Pabst’s Pandora’s Box
(1928). After living in obscurity for years, film historians
rediscovered Brooks’ films in the 1950s, and she was proclaimed a film
icon.
Diary of a Lost Girl is based on a
controversial and bestselling book first published in Germany in 1905.
Though little known today, it was a literary sensation at the beginning
of the 20th century. By the end of the 1920s, it had been translated
into 14 languages and sold more than 1,200,000 copies - ranking it among
the bestselling books of its time.
Was it - as many believed -
the real-life diary of a young woman forced by circumstance into a life
of prostitution? Or a sensational and clever fake, one of the first
novels of its kind? This contested work - a work of unusual historical significance as well as literary sophistication
- inspired a sequel, a play, a parody, a score of imitators, and two
silent films. The best remembered of these is the G.W. Pabst
film starring Louise Brooks.
In 2010, the Louise Brooks Society published a corrected and annotated
edition of the original English language translation, bringing this
important book back into print in the United States after more than 100 years. 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 and is available through amazon.com
In 2015, Kino Lorber released the best available print of the film on DVD and Blu-ray. This recommended release features an audio commentary by Thomas Gladysz. Like the book, the film is also available through amazon.com
Diary of a Lost Girl, the sensational 1929 silent film starring Louise Brooks, will be shown in Italy. More information about this special event can be found HERE, and below.
Giovedì 18 ottobre 2018 ore 21.30 Auditorium Fondazione Banca del Monte
di Lucca Chiesa di San Francesco Lucca Evento speciale in memoria di
Riccardo Berutto DIARIO DI UNA DONNA PERDUTA di Georg W. Pabst – Germania,
1929 – 90' con Louise Brooks, Joseph Rovensky In collaborazione con
Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca e Associazione Domenico di
Lorenzo Thymiane, figlia di un farmacista, è violentata dall'assistente
del padre e resa incinta.
Il bambino nasce ma muore quasi subito.
Thymiane viene rinchiusa in una casa di correzione, da cui evade per
lavorare in un bordello. Qui conosce un giovane ma dopo la morte di
quest'ultimo ne sposa lo zio, diventando una signora per bene.
Melodramma sulla complessa carriera di una ragazza che passa attraverso
l'inferno della prostituzione per giungere ai fasti della società
borghese: il regista Pabst sarcasticamente dipinge i crimini e misfatti
di una società in disfacimento, avvalendosi del fascino morboso della
bella e dotata Louise Brooks. Un capolavoro del cinema muto che vi
proponiamo, in collaborazione con la Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di
Lucca e Associazione Domenico di Lorenzo, nel ricordo dell'amico
Riccardo Berutto.
Louise Brooks, An Evening of Celebration and Art is set to take place on October 10 at Roxy's Downtown (412 1/2 E Douglas) in Wichita, Kansas. The event is hosted by Hosted by Roxy's Downtown, Vibrant ICT and Tallgrass Film Association. I don't know anything else about this just announced event. Otherwise, more information HERE.
The evening starts with an original multimedia work accompanied by the Strange Angels Ensemble (Composer Paul Elwood, Choreographer Cheyla Clawson, and Biographer Barry Paris), and is followed by a brief intermission and then the screening of:
DIARY OF A LOST GIRL (1929) Silent Film starring Louise Brooks with live Orchestration by The International Superstar Boy Band Followed by a Q&A WITH AUTHOR BARRY PARIS AND PAUL ELWOOD, AND the TEAM behind LULU OF THE PLAINS FREE TO THE PUBLIC 6 PM DOORS / 7:30 EVENT MADE POSSIBLE BY VibrantICT
VibrantICT Overview: the Vibrant ICT project — featuring pop-up, urban, #musicfornowconcerts,
and happenings. A Knight Foundation Grant project sponsored in
partnership by Chamber Music at The Barn with The Knight Foundation
through the Wichita Community Foundation.
###
Want to learn more about DIARY OF A LOST GIRL? Check out this DVD / Blu-ray release from KINO and the "Louise Brooks edition" of Diary of a Lost Girl (the book that was the basis of film.) The DVD features an audio commentary by Thomas Gladysz, director of the Louise Brooks Society. The book, which was edited by Thomas Gladysz, also features numerous illustrations and a long introduction discussing the history of the book and its relationship to the film.
Three of Louise Brooks' best films will be shown in England in mid-September. The sensational 1929 Louise Brooks films, Diary of a Lost Girl and Pandora's Box, will be shown in England on September 14 and 16. (More information about this special double bill may be found HERE.) Also showing on September 16th is Beggars of Life, with live musical accompaniment by The Dodge Brothers. (More information about this latter event may be found HERE.)
A masterpiece of the German silent era, Diary of a Lost Girl was the
second and final collaboration of actress Louise Brooks and director
G.W. Pabst a mere months after their first collaboration in the
now-legendary Pandora’s Box (1929). Brooks plays Thymian Henning, a beautiful young woman raped by an
unscrupulous character employed at her father’s pharmacy (played with
gusto by Fritz Rasp, the degenerate villain of such Fritz Lang classics
as Metropolis, Spione, and Frau im Mond). After Thymian gives birth to
his child and rejects her family’s expectations of marriage, the baby is
torn from her care, and Thymian enters a purgatorial reform school that
seems less an institute of learning than a conduit for fulfilling the
headmistress’s sadistic sexual fantasies. The screening will have a specially recorded audio intro by author and critic Pamela Hutchinson with live music on piano by Jonny Best (Yorkshire Silent Film Festival).
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 stunning photographed film is loosely based on the
controversial Lulu plays by Frank Wedekind, and also features one of the
cinema’s earliest lesbian characters. New 2K DCP of the 2009 restoration of Munich Film Museum’s definitive
cut, with score by Peer Raben. Showing as part of this year’s Heritage
Open Weekend which celebrates Heritage sites all over the UK.
But wait, there's more....
The Louise Brooks film Beggars Of Life (1928) will be shown on September 16 at the Bridport Electric Palace in Bridport with live musical accompaniment by The Dodge Brothers. Following the film, there will be a Q&A with Mark Kermode (The Observer chief Film Critic, BBC TV Presenter), Neil Brand (writer & presenter BBC 4 series ‘Sounds of Cinema : The Music That Made The Movies’) and Dr Mike Hammond (Associate Professor, Film Department, University of Southampton). More information about this event can be found HERE.
Following his Best Picture win at the inaugural Academy Awards, William A. Wellman made Beggars of Life, an adaptation of Jim Tully’s best-selling hobo memoir. This gripping drama casts Brooks as a girl on the lam after killing her lecherous step-father. Dressed in boy’s clothes, she navigates through a dangerous tramp underworld with the help of a handsome and devoted drifter (Richard Arlen) and encounters the dangerous, but warm-hearted hobo Oklahoma Red (Wallace Beery). Loaded with stunning visuals and empathetic performances, this dark, realistic drama is Brooks’ best American film and a masterpiece of late-silent era feature films.
The Dodge Brothers have played to silent films at the finest venues in
the land, The Barbican, The National Film Theatre, BFI, The National
Media Museum and anywhere that the high art of playing live to silent
film is appreciated. In 2014 The Dodge Brothers were the first band to
accompany a silent film (Beggars of Life)at Glastonbury Festival.
Want to learn more about the film? Last Spring saw the release of my well reviewed new book, Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film, and last Summer saw the release of a new DVD / Blu-ray of the film from Kino Lorber. (The DVD features a commentary by your's truly, Thomas Gladysz. If you haven't secured your
own copy of either the book or the DVD / Blu-ray, why not do so
today? Each is an essential addition to your Louise Brooks collection, and both are available on amazon.UK
Three of Louise Brooks' best films will be shown in England in mid-September. The sensational 1929 Louise Brooks films, Diary of a Lost Girl and Pandora's Box, will be shown in England on September 14 and 16. (More information about this special double bill may be found HERE.) Also showing on September 16th is Beggars of Life, with live musical accompaniment by The Dodge Brothers. (More information about this latter event may be found HERE.)
A masterpiece of the German silent era, Diary of a Lost Girl was the
second and final collaboration of actress Louise Brooks and director
G.W. Pabst a mere months after their first collaboration in the
now-legendary Pandora’s Box (1929). Brooks plays Thymian Henning, a beautiful young woman raped by an
unscrupulous character employed at her father’s pharmacy (played with
gusto by Fritz Rasp, the degenerate villain of such Fritz Lang classics
as Metropolis, Spione, and Frau im Mond). After Thymian gives birth to
his child and rejects her family’s expectations of marriage, the baby is
torn from her care, and Thymian enters a purgatorial reform school that
seems less an institute of learning than a conduit for fulfilling the
headmistress’s sadistic sexual fantasies. The screening will have a specially recorded audio intro by author and critic Pamela Hutchinson with live music on piano by Jonny Best (Yorkshire Silent Film Festival).
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 stunning photographed film is loosely based on the
controversial Lulu plays by Frank Wedekind, and also features one of the
cinema’s earliest lesbian characters. New 2K DCP of the 2009 restoration of Munich Film Museum’s definitive
cut, with score by Peer Raben. Showing as part of this year’s Heritage
Open Weekend which celebrates Heritage sites all over the UK.
But wait, there's more....
The Louise Brooks film Beggars Of Life (1928) will be shown on September 16 at the Bridport Electric Palace in Bridport with live musical accompaniment by The Dodge Brothers. Following the film, there will be a Q&A with Mark Kermode (The Observer chief Film Critic, BBC TV Presenter), Neil Brand (writer & presenter BBC 4 series ‘Sounds of Cinema : The Music That Made The Movies’) and Dr Mike Hammond (Associate Professor, Film Department, University of Southampton). More information about this event can be found HERE.
Following his Best Picture win at the inaugural Academy Awards, William A. Wellman made Beggars of Life, an adaptation of Jim Tully’s best-selling hobo memoir. This gripping drama casts Brooks as a girl on the lam after killing her lecherous step-father. Dressed in boy’s clothes, she navigates through a dangerous tramp underworld with the help of a handsome and devoted drifter (Richard Arlen) and encounters the dangerous, but warm-hearted hobo Oklahoma Red (Wallace Beery). Loaded with stunning visuals and empathetic performances, this dark, realistic drama is Brooks’ best American film and a masterpiece of late-silent era feature films.
The Dodge Brothers have played to silent films at the finest venues in
the land, The Barbican, The National Film Theatre, BFI, The National
Media Museum and anywhere that the high art of playing live to silent
film is appreciated. In 2014 The Dodge Brothers were the first band to
accompany a silent film (Beggars of Life)at Glastonbury Festival.
Want to learn more about the film? Last Spring saw the release of my well reviewed new book, Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film, and last Summer saw the release of a new DVD / Blu-ray of the film from Kino Lorber. (The DVD features a commentary by your's truly, Thomas Gladysz. If you haven't secured your
own copy of either the book or the DVD / Blu-ray, why not do so
today? Each is an essential addition to your Louise Brooks collection, and both are available on amazon.UK
There's double trouble coming up in September at South West Silents in the UK !
On September 14th, the sensational Louise Brooks film, Diary of a Lost Girl, will be shown at Cube Microplex in central Bristol, England. More information about this event can be found HERE.
South West Silents presents: Diary of a Lost Girl (1929) with introduction and live musical accompaniment
A masterpiece of the German silent era, Diary of a Lost Girl was
the second and final collaboration of actress Louise Brooks and
director G.W. Pabst a mere months after their first collaboration in the
now-legendary Pandora’s Box (1929).
Brooks plays Thymian Henning, a beautiful young woman raped by an
unscrupulous character employed at her father’s pharmacy (played with
gusto by Fritz Rasp, the degenerate villain of such Fritz Lang classics
as Metropolis, Spione, and Frau im Mond).
After Thymian gives birth to his child and rejects her family’s
expectations of marriage, the baby is torn from her care, and Thymian
enters a purgatorial reform school that seems less an institute of
learning than a conduit for fulfilling the headmistress’s sadistic
sexual fantasies.
The screening will have a specially recorded audio intro by author
and critic Pamela Hutchinson with live music on piano by Jonny Best
(Yorkshire Silent Film Festival).
“Brooks exudes a hypnotic resilience, retaining a transcendent moral decency in a corrupt world.” Philip French, The Guardian
And on September 16th, the equally provocative Louise Brooks film, Pandora's Box, will be shown at Curzon in Clevedon, North Somerset, England. (The Curzon cinema has been at the centre of cultural life in Clevedon since 1912.) More information about this event can be found HERE.
Heritage Weekend: South West Silent's Presents... Pandora's Box
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 stunning photographed film is loosely based on the
controversial Lulu plays by Frank Wedekind, and also features one of the
cinema’s earliest lesbian characters.
Showing as part of this year's Heritage Open Weekend which celebrates Heritage sites all over the UK.
Learn more about Pandora's Box on the Louise Brooks Society website.
The German Program in the Department of Modern Languages is proud to present: "Spotlighting Louise Brooks: From the Kansas Prairie to the German Silver Screen" on Saturday, February 24th, from 10am-4pm.
This event is free, open to all, and appropriate for all ages. It will take place on the K-State campus in Justin Hall, room 109. Free parking is available in the lot behind the building.
Throughout the day, participants will examine the unique role Louise Brooks, a silent film star and native Kansan, had in shaping ideas about women’s roles in society through her work in silent film, particularly in Weimar Germany in the 1920s and 1930s.
Please contact Nichole Neuman (nneuman@ksu.edu) with any questions.
Principal funding for this program is provided by the Kansas Humanities
Council, a nonprofit cultural organization connecting communities with
history, traditions, and ideas to strengthen civic life. Additional
funding provided by DOW Center for Multicultural and Community Studies
at K-State Libraries.
Event schedule:
10:00-10:45: Welcome and presentation of silent student films
11:00-1:30: Diary of a Lost Girl (GW Pabst, 1929) with live accompaniment by Matthew De Gennaro and a reception with light hors d'oeuvres to follow
1:30-2:15: Moderated panel 2:30-4:00: Talk and Q+A session with Dr. Richard McCormick (University of Minnesota)
-----
Want to learn more about Louise Brooks and Diary of a Lost Girl? Check out this 2010 Louise Brooks Society publication, the "Louise Brooks edition" of The Diary of a Lost Girl, available wherever fine books are sold. Not long after this book was published, noted UK scholar Elizabeth Boa (University of
Nottingham) said "It was such a pleasure to come upon your well documented and
beautifully presented edition. "
The German Program in the Department of Modern Languages is proud to present: "Spotlighting Louise Brooks: From the Kansas Prairie to the German Silver Screen" on Saturday, February 24th, from 10a-4p.
This event is free, open to all, and appropriate for all ages. It will take place on the K-State campus in Justin Hall, room 109. Free parking is available in the lot behind the building.
Throughout the day, participants will examine the unique role Louise Brooks, a silent film star and native Kansan, had in shaping ideas about women’s roles in society through her work in silent film, particularly in Weimar Germany in the 1920s and 1930s.
Please contact Nichole Neuman (nneuman@ksu.edu) with any questions.
Principal funding for this program is provided by the Kansas Humanities
Council, a nonprofit cultural organization connecting communities with
history, traditions, and ideas to strengthen civic life. Additional
funding provided by DOW Center for Multicultural and Community Studies
at K-State Libraries.
Event schedule:
10:00-10:45: Welcome and presentation of silent student films
11:00-1:30: Diary of a Lost Girl (GW Pabst, 1929) with live accompaniment by Matthew De Gennaro and a reception with light hors d'oeuvres to follow
1:30-2:15: Moderated panel 2:30-4:00: Talk and Q+A session with Dr. Richard McCormick (University of Minnesota)
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Want to learn more about Louise Brooks and Diary of a Lost Girl? Check out this 2010 Louise Brooks Society publication, the "Louise Brooks edition" of The Diary of a Lost Girl, available wherever fine books are sold. Not long after this book was published, noted UK scholar Elizabeth Boa (University of
Nottingham) said "It was such a pleasure to come upon your well documented and
beautifully presented edition. "
The sensational 1929 Louise Brooks film, Diary of a Lost Girl, will be shown in Munich, Germany at the Munich Film Museum on Friday, January 26th. That's today! The information below can be found on the Suddeutsche Zeitung website.
Filmtipp des Tages Tagebuch der Unterdrückung
Missbraucht und geschwängert von einem Angestellten des Vaters, abgeschoben in ein Erziehungsheim, geflohen und untergekommen in einem Bordell. Georg Wilhelm Pabst verfilmte mit "Tagebuch einer Verlorenen" einen Roman von Margarete Böhme. Ein Angriff auf bürgerliche Moralheuchelei, der dann auch bis zur Unkenntlichkeit zensiert wurde und erst vor wenigen Jahren rekonstruiert werden konnte. Zum zweiten Mal nach der "Büchse der Pandora" drehte Pabst mit Louise Brooks in der Rolle der Thymian. Deren Schauspielkunst von unverstellter Natürlichkeit nutzt er, um ihr als Kontrast die militärisch rhythmisierten Unterdrückungsmethoden des Erziehungsheims gegenüberzustellen. Die Gewalt, erst ausgehend vom Vergewaltiger des jungen Mädchens, erweist sich schnell als institutionalisiert. Tagebuch einer Verlorenen, D 1929, Regie: G. W. Pabst, Freitag, 26. Januar, 18.30 Uhr, Live-Musik: Sabrina Zimmermann & Mark Pogolski, Filmmuseum, Sankt-Jakobs-Platz 1
or
Movie Tip of the Day Journal of Oppression
Abused and impregnated by an employee of the father, deported to an education center, fled and found in a brothel. Georg Wilhelm Pabst filmed a novel by Margarete Böhme with "Diary of a Lost". An attack on bourgeois moral hypocrisy, which was then censored beyond recognition and could only be reconstructed a few years ago. For the second time after the "Pandora's Box" Pabst shot with Louise Brooks in the role of thyme. He uses her acting art of undisguised naturalness to juxtapose her with the militarily rhythmic oppression methods of the education center. The violence, first starting from the rapist of the young girl, quickly turns out to be institutionalized.
Diary of a Lost , D 1929 , directed by GW Pabst, Friday, 26 . January, 6.30 pm, live music: Sabrina Zimmermann & Mark Pogolski, Filmmuseum, Sankt-Jakobs-Platz 1
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Want to learn more? Check out this 2010 Louise Brooks Society publication, the "Louise Brooks edition" of The Diary of a Lost Girl, available wherever fine books are sold.
The National Audiovisual Institute (KAVI) in Helsinki, Finland will screen Diary of a Lost Girl on October 19 and 21, 2017 as part of their ongoing Louise Brooks series.
Here is some further information from the KAVI site. Times and ticket availability for each film may be found HERE.
Louise Brooks, kimaltava tähdenlento
12.10.2017 - 01.12.2017
Louise
Brooksin elokuvauraa voi luonnehtia tähdenlennoksi, sillä hänen
aktiivinen elokuvauransa kesti vain vuosikymmenen. Parhaimmat elokuvansa
hän teki Euroopassa G. W. Pabstin kanssa. Hollywoodin Brooks jätti
sopimusrikkojana, eikä paluu unelmatehtaaseen enää onnistunut.
The following is from the KAVI website:
Ohjaaja: G. W. Pabst
Henkilöt: Louise Brooks, Fritz Rasp, Josef Rovenský, Sybille Schmitz, Valeska Gert
Maa: Saksa
Tekstitykset: suom. tekstit (E)
Ikäraja: K12
Kesto: 113 min
Teemat: LOUISE BROOKS
Kopiotieto: restauroitu laitos FWMS 1997
Lisätieto: Margarete Böhmen romaanista • piano Ilari Hannula
G.
W. Pabstin Kadotetun päiväkirjassa (Das Tagebuch einer Verlorenen,
1929) Louise Brooks esittää viatonta tyttöä, joka saa lapsen raiskauksen
seurauksena. Perhe keskittyy varjelemaan mainettaan, hylkää tytön
kasvatuslaitokseen ja antaa lapsen pois. Tyttö kuitenkin karkaa ja
päätyy elättämään itseään ainoaksi jäävällä vaihtoehdolla. Moraliteetti
ottaa kantaa paremman luokan hurskasteluun ja näkee hyveen ”syntisissä”.
Following a recent screening of Pandora's Box in NYC, it has now been announced that... Diary of a Lost Girl, starring Louise Brooks, will be shown at Film Forum in New York City on October 14 with live piano accompaniment by Steve Sterner. Start time is 3:10 pm. Further information and ticket availability may be found HERE.
From the Film Forum website: "(1929, G.W. Pabst) Louise Brooks is the “lost girl” wronged by
circumstances and cast off first into a reformatory, then a Berlin
brothel, where she’s spiritually and emotionally liberated. DCP. Approx. 112 min."
“An elegant narrative of moral
musical chairs... not only plays on who holds what kind of legitimate
place in society, but is also a starkly direct view of inter-war
Germany.” – Time Out (London)
“Brooks exudes a hypnotic resilience, retaining a transcendent moral decency in a corrupt world.” – Philip French, The Guardian
Those who attend this event, or or thinking of attending this event, may want to check out the book that inspired the film, Margarete Bohme's controversial The Diary of a Lost Girl. In 2010, the Louise Brooks Society published the "Louise Brooks edition" of The Diary of a Lost Girl. This annotated and illustrated edition of Bohme's book features a lengthy introduction by LBS director Thomas Gladysz.
The 1929 Louise Brooks film, Diary of a Lost Girl, is based on a
controversial and bestselling book first published in Germany in 1905.
Though little known today, it was a literary sensation at the beginning
of the 20th century. By the end of the 1920s, it had been translated
into 14 languages and sold more than 1,200,000 copies - ranking it among
the bestselling books of its time.
Was it - as many believed -
the real-life diary of a young woman forced by circumstance into a life
of prostitution? Or a sensational and clever fake, one of the first
novels of its kind? This contested work - a work of unusual historical significance as well as literary sophistication
- inspired a sequel, a play, a parody, a score of imitators, and two
silent films. The best remembered of these is the oft revived G.W. Pabst
film starring Louise Brooks.
This corrected and annotated
edition of the original English language translation brings this
important book back into print after more than 100 years. 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.
"Long relegated to the shadows, Margarete Böhme's 1905 novel, The Diary of a Lost Girl
has at last made a triumphant return. In reissuing the rare 1907
English translation of Böhme's German text, Thomas Gladysz makes an
important contribution to film history, literature, and, in as much as
Böhme told her tale with much detail and background contemporary to the
day, sociology and history. He gives us the original novel, his
informative introduction, and many beautiful and rare illustrations.
This reissue is long overdue, and in all ways it is a volume of uncommon
merit." - Richard Buller, author of A Beautiful Fairy Tale: The Life of Actress Lois Moran
"Read today, it's a fascinating time-trip back to another age, and yet
remains compelling. As a bonus, Gladysz richly illustrates the text with
stills of Brooks from the famous film." - Jack Garner, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
"In
today's parlance this would be called a movie tie-in edition, but that
seems a rather glib way to describe yet another privately published work
that reveals an enormous amount of research and passion." - Leonard
Maltin, Movie Crazy
"Thomas Gladysz is the leading authority on all matters pertaining to the
legendary Louise Brooks. We owe him a debt of gratitude for bringing
the groundbreaking novel, The Diary of a Lost Girl, back from obscurity." -- Lon Davis, author of Silent Lives
"It
was such a pleasure to come upon your well documented and beautifully
presented edition." -- Elizabeth Boa, Professor at the University of Nottingham
The "Louise Brooks edition" of The Diary of a Lost Girl is available on amazon.com and at the George Eastman Museum gift shop in Rochester, New York and wherever better books are sold.
Thomas Gladysz also contributed the audio commentary to the 2015 Kino Lorber DVD / Blu-ray release of the film. Like his book, it too can be found on amazon.com and elsewhere.
The historic Brattle Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts (located at 40 Brattle St.) will commence a a three day series of screenings featuring two films starring Louise Brooks. Here are the details. Visit the Brattle Theater website for further details including ticket availability.
Beggars of Life Tue, Sep 5, 2017 at 8:30 PM Thursday, September 7 at 6:00 PM (double bill with Diary of a Lost Girl)
New Digital Restoration!
(1928) dir William A. Wellman w/Louise Brooks, Wallace Beery, Richard Arlen, Blue Washington, Kewpie Morgan [81 min; DCP]
An American silent film classic, BEGGARS OF LIFE stars Louise Brooks as a
train-hopping hobo who dresses like a boy to survive. After escaping
her violent stepfather, Nancy (Brooks) befriends kindly drifter Jim
(Arlen), and they ride the rails until an encounter with a rowdy band of
hoboes led by the blustery Oklahoma Red (Beery) leads to a daring,
desperate conflict on top of a moving train. Based on the memoir of
real-life hobo Jim Tully, and directed with adventuresome verve by
William Wellman, BEGGARS OF LIFE is an essential American original. Features a new original score by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.
Diary of a Lost Girl Wed, Sep 6, 2017 at 8:30 PM Thursday, September 7 at 8:00 PM (double bill Beggars of Life)
New Digital Restoration!
(1929) dir G.W. Pabst w/Louise Brooks, André Roanne [112 min; DCP]
The second and final collaboration of actress Louise Brooks and director G.W. Pabst (Pandora’s Box),
DIARY OF A LOST GIRL 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. It’s another tour-de-force
performance by Brooks, whom silent film historian Kevin Brownlow calls
an “actress of brilliance, a luminescent personality and a beauty
unparalleled in screen history.” – Thomas Gladysz
Don't forget: If you see the movie, why not read my books! Each are available on amazon.com or through select independent bookstores. Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film is also available through Barnes and Noble.
And if you see the movie and want to see it again, be sure and pick up a copy of the outstanding Kino Lorber DVDs or Blu-ray. Each features an audio commentary by me, Thomas Gladysz, and each is available through amazon.com, B&N and through select independent bookstores.
The Brattle has also published a new piece, "Louise Brooks, Lost Girl," as part of their Film Notes
series. This essay by Thomas Gladysz focuses on the Brattle's showing of the
digitally restored versions of Beggars of Life and Diary of a Lost Girl. Check out the article at http://www.brattleblog.brattlefilm.org/2017/08/27/louis-brooks-lost-girl-5567/
The historic Brattle Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts (located at 40 Brattle St.) has announced a short series of screenings featuring two films starring Louise Brooks. Here are the details. Visit the Brattle Theater website for further details including ticket availability.
Beggars of Life Tue, Sep 5, 2017 at 8:30 PM Thursday, September 7 at 6:00 PM (double bill with Diary of a Lost Girl)
New Digital Restoration!
(1928) dir William A. Wellman w/Louise Brooks, Wallace Beery, Richard Arlen, Blue Washington, Kewpie Morgan [81 min; DCP]
An American silent film classic, BEGGARS OF LIFE stars Louise Brooks as a
train-hopping hobo who dresses like a boy to survive. After escaping
her violent stepfather, Nancy (Brooks) befriends kindly drifter Jim
(Arlen), and they ride the rails until an encounter with a rowdy band of
hoboes led by the blustery Oklahoma Red (Beery) leads to a daring,
desperate conflict on top of a moving train. Based on the memoir of
real-life hobo Jim Tully, and directed with adventuresome verve by
William Wellman, BEGGARS OF LIFE is an essential American original. Features a new original score by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.
Diary of a Lost Girl Wed, Sep 6, 2017 at 8:30 PM Thursday, September 7 at 8:00 PM (double bill Beggars of Life)
New Digital Restoration!
(1929) dir G.W. Pabst w/Louise Brooks, André Roanne [112 min; DCP]
The second and final collaboration of actress Louise Brooks and director G.W. Pabst (Pandora’s Box),
DIARY OF A LOST GIRL 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. It’s another tour-de-force
performance by Brooks, whom silent film historian Kevin Brownlow calls
an “actress of brilliance, a luminescent personality and a beauty
unparalleled in screen history.” – Thomas Gladysz
Don't forget: If you see the movie, why not read my books! Each are available on amazon.com or through select independent bookstores. Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film is also available through Barnes and Noble.
And if you see the movie and want to see it again, be sure and pick up a copy of the outstanding Kino Lorber DVDs or Blu-ray. Each features an audio commentary by me, Thomas Gladysz, and each is available through amazon.com
