More unusual early film material found while researching Louise Brooks

In researching Louise Brooks, I have come across all kinds of interesting, unusual, and even surprising material.... At the end of the previous blogpost,"Louise Brooks and Brazil - beginning with Pandora's Box featured in a 1930 Chaplin Club newsletter," I mentioned that this post would feature material of interest to those looking into early film and it manifestation around the globe. Here it is.

I recently came across archives from two new (to me) newspapers, and explored them for material related to Louise Brooks. Unfortunately, I came up empty handed. Nevertheless, the material was unusual enough that I wanted to share it. First up are a couple of clippings from Managua, Nicaragua. I am confident that Brooks' American silent films were shown there, but the sole database I accessed was fragmentary, and thus the record was incomplete. I figure if Buster Keaton was known and shown in this Central American nation, chances are so was Brooks

A 1929 clipping

A January 1937 Max Factor ad featuring Jean Harlow

By comparison, I have found a good number of listings for Brooks' American silents in Panama -- specifically in the Panama canal zone. I also have found many clippings from Mexico, from various Caribbean island nations (Cuba, Haiti, etc...), and South America. Unfortunately, I have found little from Central America - specifically  Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Certainly, Brooks' films made their way into these the nations.

The other clippings I came across originated in India. They were published in a now defunct newspaper called Amrita Bazar Patrika. Originally published in Bengali script, the paper evolved into an English format publication which was published from the city of Kolkata and other locations such as Cuttack, Ranchi and Allahabad. Unfortunately, as this database was also fragmentary, I failed to find any material related to Brooks. (Again, by comparison, I have come across a good number of articles and advertisements related to Brooks' films in the Times of India.) Here is what I found in Amrita Bazar Patrika.

Here is an advertisement for a Harold Lloyd film from August, 1930. Notice that "Dances and Songs" were featured every day at the Crown Cinema, another theatre in Shambazar. (Shyambazar is a neighbourhood of North Kolkata, in the Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal.)

And here is one for a Marion Davies film showing at the Purna Theatre, dating from July 1930. It was accompanied by a "grand revival" of Madhur Milan. I am not sure what Madhur Milan was, exactly, though there were later Bengali films by that name. Also, notice in the next ad over that the Pearl theatre is promoting "Wonderful singing and dancing" by Shibo Rani, as well as the "comedy king of India" in the person of Prof. T.N. Bagchi.

And here is one for a John Gilbert film, also dating from July 1930. It is described as a "H[a]unting Memory of Beauty and Delight."

The pre-film entertainment which accompanied these three American films seems to be local, which made for a lively mix of American and Indian entertainment.

Finally, here is a full page of mostly film advertisements dating from April 1939, five months before the beginning of WWII and eight years before India would gain its independence. Again, the page presents not only a Boris Karloff thriller, a Ginger Rogers & Fred Astaire film, and a Charlie Chan film, but overall a lively mix of American and Indian entertainment.

Louise Brooks silent film Pandora's Box to screen in India

In researching Around the World with Louise Brooks, I have been able to determine that many of Louise Brooks' American films (both the silent films and the talkies) were shown around the time of their release in India.

Now comes word that Brooks' best known film, the German silent Pandora's Box, will be shown at the International Film Festival of India. In fact, Pandora's Box is one of three silent film classics that will be shown at the annual event. According to an article in the Navhind Times, "The films to be screened on November 22, 23, and 24 include Battleship Potemkin (1925) by Russian master filmmaker and pioneer of montage editing, Sergei M Eisenstein; Pandora’s Box (1929) by German expressionist master, G W Pabst; and Blackmail (1929) directed by the British filmmaker known as Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, respectively. The three silent films will be screened with live music performed by BFI UK Pianist, Jonny Best."

The Navhind Times describes the film this way: "Pandora’s Box is a German silent film based on Frank Wedekind’s two plays, ‘Erdgeist’ or ‘Earth Spirit’ (1895) and ‘Die Büchse der Pandora’ (1904). It stars Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner and Francis Lederer. Brooks portrays a seductive, thoughtless young woman whose raw sexuality and uninhibited nature brings ruin to her as well as those who love her."

This year marks the 50th year of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which is often counted among one of the earliest film festivals on the Asian continent. The International Film Festival of India will witness over 200 films from 76 countries, 26 feature films, and 15 non feature films in the Indian Panorama section. More than 10,000 people are expected to participate in the event in Panaji, Goa, India.

Sacred Space: Louise Brooks in India

Found these two selections of quotations in the Times of India. Each date from the early 2000's and each include Louise Brooks.

Lulu in Bollywood - Louise Brooks in India

In search of all things Louise Brooks... I had the chance to look through past issues of the Times of India, the English-language daily newspaper. Today, it is the largest selling English-language daily in the world.

Back in the 1920s and 1930's, the Times of India covered the Bombay (now Mumbai) and New Delhi entertainment scenes. That included films, and of special interest, the films of Louise Brooks.

As far as I could find, at least eight of the actress' films were shown in India. I found editorial coverage and / or advertisements for The American Venus (1-26 / 9-27), Just Another Blonde (12-26 / 7-27), Evening Clothes (3-27 / 5-29), Now We're in the Air (10-27 / 9-29), Beggars of Life (10-28 / 3-29), The Canary Murder Case (2-29 / 5-30), and as well, When You're in Love (2-37 / 9-37), and King of Gamblers (5-37 / 11-37). The dates in parenthesis represent the month of the film's American release / followed by the month of the film's showing in either Bombay or New Delhi, India.

In terms of editorial, both Beggars of Life and The Canary Murder Case received a fair amount of coverage, as did When You're in Love. In terms of newspaper advertisements, many of the ads were something like the one pictured to the left for Now We're in the Air. Cool, but somewhat modest. However, I did find a couple of rather large advertisements for both The American Venus and Beggars of Life. Each took-up nearly 1/5th of the page! Wow!!

Lulu in Calcutta, 1966

Just today, I came across a film book published in Calcutta, India titled The Marketing of Films. The book, by Trishla Goyal, was published in 1966. It's really not about marketing films. Rather, its a broad, worldwide history of the medium. What's remarkable about it - and what caught my attention, is the 1 1/4 pages given over to Louise Brooks and her role as Lulu in Pandora's Box. Here are those pages:



Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl are mentioned elsewhere in the book, in the chapter devoted to German film. So far, this is the only work published in India which I have come across discussing Brooks. It is also an early-contemporary (post Twenties and Thirties) citation. How interesting!