Louise Brooks in a scene from Prix de Beauté

Louise Brooks in a scene from Prix de Beauté (1930). Beautiful you are....

Prix de Beauté at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival

The house was packed at yesterday's historic screening of Prix de Beauté at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. The Festival screened the rarely shown silent version of the 1930 Louise Brooks film, which was restored in 2012 by the Cineteca di Bologna in Italy. My guess is that at least 1200 people were in the attendance. Acclaimed British musician Stephen Horne accompanied the film on piano (mostly), as well as flute, accordion, and guitar.

The film was very well received. During the beauty pageant in San Sebastian, the audience in the Castro starting clapping along with the audience in the film (to ensure Brooks' victory). Another memoriable moment occurred at the end of the film, when Stephen Horne's live accompaniment gave way to the the recorded song heard in the sound version of Prix de Beauté, before Horne resumed playing the close the film.

Here are a few snapshots from inside the theater during the pre-film slideshow.

 

After the screening, I had the honor of being part of a three-person signing along with fellow Louise Brooks fans Hugh Munro Neely, the Emmy nominated filmmaker whose documentary Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu is widely acclaimed, and comix artist amd early film enthuisiast Kim Deitch. As a teenager in 1957, Deitch said, he was in the audience along with his father, Gene Deitch, of a screening of Diary of a Lost Girl at the Eastman House in Rochester, New York. Also in the audience was Louise Brooks! Kim never met her, though his father did. Gene Deitch also had his picture taken with her. Below is a snapshot of myself (right) and Kim Deitch (left).

Highlights of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival

Silent films can transport us back in time. Movies from the early years of the 20th century are filled with details which reveals the way people used to live, work, think, fall in love, solve problems, act silly, and get by on a daily basis. The way people lived then and the way people live now is different, and that's interesting. 

Silent films, as well, are filled with all manner of objects from the past, like hand-crank telephones, automobiles with rumble seats, and acoustic record players known as Victrolas. And too, there are fashions and hairstyles, especially in films from the Twenties, which depicted the glamorous Gatsby side of the Jazz Age. City skylines and city streets have also changed over the years. How many buildings in a scene shot on the streets of Los Angeles or San Francisco or New York or Paris in the 1920s are still extant? At this year's San Francisco Silent Film Festival, you'll have a chance to see for yourself. 

courtesy San Francisco Silent Film Festival

There is a lot of detail to watch for at this year's Silent Film Festival, which takes place July 18 - 21 at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. For example, two of the most anticipated films at this year's event, Prix de Beauté and The Last Edition, feature extended scenes shot inside the composing and press rooms of newspapers from the time--back when metal type was set by hand and newspapers were printed on broadsheet. Imagine that.

There is also a quasi-documentary filmed entirely on location in Bali in 1935 by the ex-husband of Gloria Swanson. The film, Legong: Dance of the Virgins, is a late silent and one of the last features shot in two-strip Technicolor. It's gorgeous. And what's more, this special screening will feature live musical accompaniment by a Balinese gamelan ensemble. All the films at the Festival feature live musical accompaniment of one kind or another.

Don't miss The Weavers, a German film with striking intertitles designed by the radical artist George Grosz. Another not-to-be-missed presentation, a late addition to the Festival, is a newly discovered two-minute trailer for Dziga Vertov's The Eleventh Year (1928). It's believed to be animated and directed by Aleksander Rodchenko, one of the founders of the Constructivist art movement in the Soviet Union.

For Downton Abbey fans, there's The First Born, a rarely scene British drama set among the upper class. It was co-scripted by Alfred Hitchcock's future wife and production partner, Alma Reville. There's also a delicately composed Japanese silent, Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Chorus, whose themes of parental love and middle-class dreams are set against a backdrop of urban realities. As well, there are comedy shorts starring Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Felix the Cat, and a Russian film described as the "Best Soviet Silent Comedy ever." Hmmm.... here's what else shouldn't be missed.

courtesy San Francisco Silent Film Festival

 1) Prix de Beauté is the masterpiece that almost was. Based on a story idea by G.W. Pabst and Rene Clair, Prix de Beauté is screen legend Louise Brooks' last starring role. It was also intended to be Clair's first sound film. The financing fell apart, and the legendary French director withdrew. The Italian Augusto Genina (Cyrano de Bergerac) stepped in and shot it more-or-less as a silent but with dubbed dialogue and sound effects. The result is a awkward hybrid effort, at times effective, at times clumsy. The San Francisco Silent Film Festival will screen the rarely seen, recently restored silent version which is not only longer, but in most regards, superior--an almost masterpiece. The film's climax, familiar to those who have seen the sound version on DVD, has sent critics into rapture. It may be one of the great endings of all time. Musician Stephen Horne, who will be accompanying the film on piano, is promising something special.

courtesy San Francisco Silent Film Festival

2) Along with Fritz Lang and F.W. Murnau, Pabst (Pandora's Box, Diary of a Lost Girl) ranks among the great directors of the German silent cinema. One of his early works is The Joyless Street. Today, it is considered one of the most important films of the Weimar-era, and not just because it was Greta Garbo's second feature. The Joyless Street is a masterpiece of cinematic storytelling, and one of the first films of the "New Objectivity" movement. Its realism and juxtaposition of the haves and have nots--as well as its frank sexuality, proved provocative for censors of the time. The Joyless Street was cut wherever it was shown, and sometimes banned outright. This painstaking new restoration has reconstructed the film as close as possible to Pabst's intention. [For decades there's been speculation that Marlene Dietrich played a minor role in The Joyless Street. Dietrich is thought by some to be the dark-haired woman waiting in line (with Garbo and Asta Nielsen) in a scene at the butcher shop. In fact, it's the German actress Hertha von Walther, one of the actresses featured in The Weavers.]

3) As Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies animator Chuck Jones put it, "The two most important people in animation are Winsor McCay and Walt Disney." Today, everyone knows about Disney. Few know of McCay, a once celebrated newspaper cartoonist who almost single-handedly pioneered animated motion pictures. Academy Award winning filmmaker and McCay biographer John Canemaker (Winsor McCay: His Life and Art) screens four of McCay's short films and celebrates the many achievements of this early-Twentieth-century genius who gave the world Little Nemo in Slumberland and other works. [If McCay's style seem familiar, it may be because he influenced a wide array of today's leading cartoonists, graphic novelists, and illustrators--notably Art Spiegelman, Maurice Sendak, William Joyce, Chris Ware, Bill Watterson, and Kim Deitch, whose The Boulevard of Broken Dreams revolves around a character named Winsor. Deitch, a legendary underground cartoonist and silent film enthusiast, will be on hand signing copies of just released The Amazing, Enlightening and Absolutely True Adventures of Katherine Whaley (Fantagraphics), a full-length graphic novel with a silent film sub-plot created in a striking "widescreen" format.]

courtesy San Francisco Silent Film Festival

4) The received wisdom is that Marion Davies wasn't much of an actress. And, hadn't media tycoon William Randolph Hearst made her a star, Davies' career would not have amounted to much. The Patsy proves the received wisdom wrong. Don't miss this film. It's perfect in every way.

5) It is an iconic image. A bespectacled man hanging off the hands of a clock on the side of a skyscraper high above a city street. This scene from Safety Last! is all the more thrilling because star Harold Lloyd didn't employ special effects to make it happen. But why he is up there in the first place? Safety Last! takes the familiar story of boy meets girl and turns it into high-art. This brilliant 1923 film, the Festival closer, inspired Pulitzer Prize-winning author James Agee to later write of Lloyd's climb: "Each new floor is like a stanza in a poem."

courtesy San Francisco Silent Film Festival

More than 10,000 people are expected to attend this year's San Francisco Silent Film Festival, which is now in its 18th year. It's grown to become the largest silent film festival in North America--and one of the largest in the world. The Silent Film Festival takes place July 18 through July 21 at the historic Castro Theater. Additional information, including the complete schedule of films, can be found at www.silentfilm.org

More on Prix de Beauté

 

On Thursday, July 18th the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will screen the rarely shown silent version of the 1930 Louise Brooks' film, Prix de Beauté. The Festival will screen the silent version  restored in 2012 by the Cineteca di Bologna in Italy. The film's running time is given as approximately 108 minutes. (By comparison, the running time found on the KINO DVD released a few years back is 93 minutes.) Accompanying the July 18th screening is acclaimed British musician Stephen Horne. 

Pictured here are two vintage promotional pages. Come to the Festival!

Don't miss Prix de Beauté

On Thursday, July 18th the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will screen the rarely shown silent version of the 1930 Louise Brooks' film, Prix de Beauté. Made as the European cinema was converting to sound, the film marks Louise Brooks' last starring role in a feature film.

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival will screen the silent version recently restored by the Cineteca di Bologna in Italy. The film's running time is given as approximately 108 minutes. (By comparison, the running time found on the KINO DVD is 93 minutes.) Accompanying the July 18th screening is British musician Stephen Horne. The LBS interview with Horne ran earlier on this blog.

In the July 11th New York Times there was a fantastic article about musician John Zorn. He is best known to fans of Louise Brooks for his mid-1990's collaborative CDs News for Lulu and More News for Lulu, each with musicians Bill Frisell and George Lewis. Just recently, I noticed this video clip from the end of Prix de Beauté which features music-sound by Zorn. It is kinda-out there, but it also works. Spoiler alert if you haven't seen the film.

Musician Stephen Horne interviewed about Louise Brooks film, Prix de Beauté

On Thursday, July 18th the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will screen the rarely shown silent version of the 1930 Louise Brooks' film, Prix de Beauté. Made as the European cinema was converting to sound, the film marks Louise Brooks' last starring role in a feature.

Less well known than her work with G.W. Pabst (Pandora’s Box, Diary of a Lost Girl), Prix de Beauté is an otherwise very good film marred, in ways, by its foray into sound. Brooks' voice was dubbed, not always effectively, and sound effects were added.

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival will screen the silent version recently restored by the Cineteca di Bologna in Italy. The film's running time is given as approximately 108 minutes. (By comparison, the running time found on the KINO DVD is 93 minutes.) Accompanying the July 18th screening is British musician Stephen Horne.

Stephen has long been considered one of the leading silent film accompanists. Based at London's BFI Southbank, he has performed at all the major UK venues including the Barbican Centre and the Imperial War Museum; he has also recorded music for DVDs, BBC TV screenings, and museum installations of silent films. Although principally a pianist, he often incorporates flute, accordion and keyboards into his performances, sometimes simultaneously. Stephen performs internationally, and in recent years his accompaniments have met with acclaim at film festivals in Pordenone, Telluride, San Francisco, Cannes, Bologna and Berlin. Most recently, he accompanied some of the Hitchcock 9 silent films which have played around the United States.

Via email, Stephen answered a few questions about his upcoming accompaniment to Prix de Beauté.

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THOMAS GLADYSZ: How did the assignment to accompany Prix de Beauté come about?

STEPHEN HORNE: I think the film was already in the minds of the festival team, because of the amazing response to Louise Brooks' films at earlier festivals. I mentioned to [SFSFF Director] Anita Monga that I'd played for the film a couple of times, so maybe that's why I was asked to accompany it.

THOMAS GLADYSZ: What were your impressions of the film ?

STEPHEN HORNE: I did watch the sound version before the silent screenings that I accompanied. Normally I wouldn't consider this necessary, but on this occasion it was invaluable. I'm not sure that this restoration is truly the original silent version - I suspect that this doesn't actually survive intact and what we have is a recreation, using the sound version as a starting point and working backwards, so to speak. I think that both versions have their problems - they're imperfect gems - but for me the silent version works much better. And there are certain sequences that are sublime.

THOMAS GLADYSZ: What is your approach to composing for a silent film?

STEPHEN HORNE: My approach varies from event to event, depending on many variables - some of them quite prosaic, such as how much time I have! On occasion I'll be commissioned to compose a fully notated score, either to perform solo or with other musicians. Most often my approach is improvisatory, but 'planned'. By which I mean that I'll watch the film and prepare certain musical elements, along with certain specific effects, such as when I'll switch between instruments (for those that don't know, I'm something of an instrumental multi-tasker). I like the elastic quality of an improvised performance, which I think can sometimes respond from moment-to-moment in a way that is hard to do with a fixed score. But equally I recognize that people like a good tune! So I try to thread melodic elements throughout, which I guess creates something of a hybrid: an improvised score.

THOMAS GLADYSZ: Were there any special challenges in composing the score for a silent film that is today best known as a sound film?

STEPHEN HORNE: I think it's simplest to assume that the audience hasn't seen the sound version. Obviously several people will have done, but the event should ideally stand on its own terms, as a silent film / live music event. However, there are some challenges that this silent version presents, particularly all the images that specifically reference sound effects: the repeated close-ups of loudspeakers, etc. One has to make a decision about whether to acknowledge them musically, or 'play through' them instead.

THOMAS GLADYSZ: Music, song and sound are integral to certain passages in the film, especially the film's climatic ending. Did that prove a challenge?

STEPHEN HORNE: Unless you're playing an instrument that can produce comparable sound 'effects', I think it's best to approach these things in a slightly abstract way. In the tango song scene I've chosen to focus on a couple of specific elements within the scene - rather than trying to create an impression of vocalizing, for instance. However, the song in the final scene is inescapably important, so I think that I have come up with a rather clever solution to the problem. But you'll have to wait to find out what that will be!

This sheet music and 78rpm recording were issued in France to tie in
with the 1930 Louise Brooks' film Prix de Beauté

THOMAS GLADYSZ: Were you able to integrate the two songs used in the sound version into your score? If so, how?

STEPHEN HORNE: See above! But again, I'm largely gearing the performance to people who are coming to this film without having seen the sound version. The songs are not generally known now, so while it's important that I play a tango when they're dancing / singing a tango, I don't think that it has to be the one sung in the sound version. But just wait until the climax...

THOMAS GLADYSZ: What can those who attend the Festival screening look forward to?

STEPHEN HORNE: A lovely but flawed film, elevated to near-classic status by the transcendence of Louise Brooks. On a musical note, I've noticed that the music I'm preparing often starts in a major key, before resolving to the minor. I think this is the influence of the Brooks persona: full of joy, but with a lingering note of melancholy.

THOMAS GLADYSZ: Louise Brooks fans will want to know.... Is there any chance the silent version and your score will be released on DVD?

STEPHEN HORNE: I would imagine that there's a good chance a DVD will be released, unless there are some copyright issues of which I'm unaware. But whether my music will be included is a question that is in the laps of the Gods of film restoration!

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For more on this superb musician's approach to accompanying silent film, here is a video interview from 2009. Stephen Horne spoke to Marek Bogacki at the Killruddery Silent Film Festival about his career in silent film music.

Press reviews of Prix de Beauté from 1930

On Thursday, July 18th the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will screen the rarely shown silent version of the 1930 Louise Brooks' film, Prix de Beauté. I believe this special events marks the film's West Coast premiere, and certainly one of its very first showings in North America. It is an event not to be missed.

When the sound version of Prix de Beauté debuted in Paris in 1930, it was not all that well received by the public. Other Brooks' films like Beggars of Life and Diary of a Lost Girl enjoyed longer runs at the box office. Nevertheless, Prix de Beauté generated a good deal of press. Here is a advertisement from the trades which samples the critical response.

Silent version of Prix de Beauté with Louise Brooks screens July 18th

On Thursday, July 18th, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will screen a new restoration of the silent version of Prix de Beauté (1930), with musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne. This special  screening opens this year's annual festival, and, it is a very rare opportunity to see the least seen version of one of Louise Brooks' finest films.

Here is what the San Francisco Silent Film Festival website has to say:

Prix de Beauté marks Louise Brooks’s last starring role in a feature. Less known than her work with G.W. Pabst (Pandora’s Box, Diary of a Lost Girl), Prix de Beauté was marred by its foray into early sound (Brooks’s voice was dubbed). Our presentation is the superior silent version recently restored by the Cineteca di Bologna. Brooks is stunning as Lucienne, the “everygirl” typist who enters a beauty contest and is introduced to a shiny world of fame and modernity. But Prix’s script, a collaboration between René Clair and G.W. Pabst, doesn’t leave Lucienne in a fairy tale bubble but leads to a powerful, moving denouement. Cinematographers Rudolph Maté and Louis Née make beautiful use of Brooks’s glorious face. Approximately 108 minutes.

Buy Tickets & Passes Here! General $20 / Member $18

Louise Brooks, the toast of Paris 1929

Louise Brooks was the toast of Paris while she was in France making Prix de Beauté. The film was in production between August 29 through September 27, 1929. (The film was released August 20, 1930.)

Brooks appeared on the covers of magazines, was the subject of numerous articles, and had her picture taken by one of the leading photography studios in the city, the Studio Lorelle. The image below shows Brooks' portrait on display in a Parisian shop window.

Re: Silent version of Prix de Beauté screening in San Francisco

As was mention here earlier, on Thursday, July 18th, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will screen a new restoration of the RARE silent version of Prix de Beauté (1930), with musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne. The screening opens this year's annual festival, the largest such festival in North America. It is an opportunity to see the least seen version of any one of Louise Brooks' films. Below is a rare image from the film. And here is what the Festival website has to say: 

Silent version of Prix de Beauté to screen in San Francisco

On Thursday, July 18th, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will screen a new restoration of the silent version of Prix de Beauté (1930), with musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne. The screening opens this year's annual festival, and is a very rare opportunity to see the least seen version of one of Louise Brooks' finest films. Here is what the Festival website has to say:

France, 1930 • Director Augusto Genina
Cast Louise Brooks, Georges Charlia, H. Bandini, A. Nicolle, M. Ziboulsky, Yves Glad, Alex Bernard

Prix de Beauté marks Louise Brooks’s last starring role in a feature. Less known than her work with G.W. Pabst (Pandora’s Box, Diary of a Lost Girl), Prix de Beauté was marred by its foray into early sound (Brooks’s voice was dubbed). Our presentation is the superior silent version recently restored by the Cineteca di Bologna. Brooks is stunning as Lucienne, the “everygirl” typist who enters a beauty contest and is introduced to a shiny world of fame and modernity. But Prix’s script, a collaboration between René Clair and G.W. Pabst, doesn’t leave Lucienne in a fairy tale bubble but leads to a powerful, moving denouement. Cinematographers Rudolph Maté and Louis Née make beautiful use of Brooks’s glorious face. Approximately 108 minutes.

General $20 / Member $18

Buy Tickets and Passes Here!

Louise Brooks shines again this month in Italy

A couple of posts prior I wrote that a four film mini festival of Louise Brooks films taking place in Rome at the House of Cinema at the Villa Borghese in Italy. Now comes word that another of Brooks' films will be shown in Italy, this time on February 22 in Milan at the Fondazione Cineteca Italiana. That film is the silent version of Miss Europa (Prix de Beaute). Musical accompaniment will be provided by Antonio Zambrini. Here is the Italian website description:

Miss Europa (Prix de Beauté) – Copia restaurata

R.: Augusto Genina
Sc.: René Clair, Georg W. Pabst
Int.: Louise Brooks, Georges Charlia, Jean Bradin, Augusto Bandini, André Nicolle, Yves Glad, Gaston Jacquet.
Francia, 1930, b/n, 109’, muto.

Sinossi

Louise Brooks nei panni di una semplice impiegata, Lucienne, che si ritrova proiettata nel dorato mondo dello spettacolo dopo essere stata eletta Miss Europa. Il suo fidanzato è all’oscuro di tutto, ma all’inizio Lucienne resiste alle lusinghe della notorietà, si sposa e accetta di dedicarsi alla casa. Solo che quella vita è troppo dura, e un giorno Lucienne se ne va, torna dal principe che l’aveva corteggiata e grazie al suo aiuto inizia una carriera cinematografica. Il marito, disperato, non smetterà di cercarla e quando alla fine la ritroverà tutto finirà in tragedia.
Accompagnamento dal vivo al pianoforte di Antonio Zambrini.

Poland anticipates Prix de Beaute

Here is a 1929 clipping from a Polish newspaper listing films in production or scheduled for release in the near future - a kind-of "something to look forward to" piece. The 1930 Louise Brooks film, Prix de Beaute, is listed a couple of entries above Charlie Chaplin's City Lights.

A number of Louise Brooks' films were shown in Poland. I have newspaper advertisements for Pandora's Box, A Girl in Every Port, It's the Old Army Game and Beggars of Life clipped from Warsaw and Krakow newspapers.

Fantasio, Prix de Beaute in Spain, mainly

Besides Iceland and Turkey (see previous post), the 1930 Louise Brooks' film, Prix de Beaute, was also popular in Spain, where it showed in various cities. Depicted above is a newspaper advertisement for the film.

Louise Brooks herself was also apparently somewhat popular. Below, she is depicted for no apparent reason on the cover of La Prensa, a major daily newspaper. This clip is from 1928. Louise Brooks is described as an "American Artist." Wow.

Louise Brooks stars in Prix de Beaute, from Iceland to Turkey

Louise Brooks starred in Prix de Beaute, a French production released in 1930 which was sometimes advertised or promoted under an alternate title, Miss Europe. It is a terrific film, and proved to be popular enough to have been shown all around the continent - just like Brooks' two German films, Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl (both 1929).

Recently, I came across two advertisements for the film. The first is from Iceland. It appeared on the front page of this Icelandic newspaper in 1931.

I also came across an advertisement for Prix de Beaute in a Turkish newspaper, also from 1931. This ad is only one of a handful of Brooks' related pieces which I have come across from a Middle Eastern or Arabic country. (I have uncovered a few instances of the actress' films being shown in French north African colonies. I also have an undated clipping of The Canary Murder Case from Egypt.) If any reader has any knowledge of or lead toward uncovering any other instances of Brooks' films being shown in a Middle Eastern or Arab country, please contact me.

Rare screening of Louise Brooks film, Prix de Beauté

The infrequently screened film, Prix de Beauté, starring Louise Brooks, will be shown on June 23rd as part of the 26th edition of Il Cinema Ritrovato festival in Bologna, Italy. The prestigious international event is put on by the Mostra Internazionale del Cinema Libero and Cineteca di Bologna. 

For this special presentation, the silent version of Prix de Beauté will be accompanied by the noted pianist and composer Timothy Brock, who will direct the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna in a performance of Brock's original score. (Timothy Brock has composed scores for two other Brooks' films, Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl.) The Prix de Beauté score was commissioned by the Orchestre national de Lyon in collaboration with l'Institut Lumière. Prix de Beauté will be screened outdoors in a public square, the Piazza Maggiore.

Image courtesy of Il Cinema Ritrovato

An international effort, Prix de Beauté (which translates as "Beauty Prize," and was given the title Miss Europe in England and other countries) is a 1930 film directed by Augusto Genina, an Italian director then working in France. The film was based on a story idea by the German director G.W. Pabst (who directed Louise Brooks in Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl) and the French director Rene Clair. Clair had, at one point, intended to direct Prix de Beauté, until funding fell through.

The film stars Louise Brooks as Lucienne Garnier, a typist who enters a beauty contest. Georges Charlia plays Andre, Lucienne's jealous boyfriend. Augusto Bandini plays Antonin, Lucienne and Andre's friend and co-worker. Also in the cast in small roles are the French actors Jean Bradin and Gaston Jacquet. Costume design is by the famous Jean Patou.

Prix de Beauté is notable as being the first sound film to feature Brooks, though her dialogue (Brooks did not speak French) and singing were dubbed. Prix de Beauté was, in fact, shot as a silent. Dialogue, sound effects and two songs were added in post production.

Though at times prosaic, Prix de Beauté retains great charm and interest - largely because of Brooks. And, its ending, both striking and poetic, is considered one of the most remarkable and striking passages in film history.

"Prix de beauté represents a truly success¬ful mix of the tenants of neorealism and elaborate fantasy ..." notes film historian Paul Vecchiali in L'Encinéclopédie. Ciné¬astes "français" des années 1930 et leur œuvre. "Despite unrefined post recording and overacting by Georges Charlia, in standard silent movie fashion, the film is a masterpiece.... Genina proves it with his stark style: love and jealousy go hand in hand, gnawing away at the banality of day-to-day, which is no longer sublimated by feelings. The extraordinary beauty of light and the skill and intelligence with which it is used add other noteworthy elements, placing this movie among the most important works of the first years of talkies even though it is a silent film!"

More info: Bilingual pages on the Il Cinema Ritrovato can be found at http://www.cinetecadibologna.it/, with additional information on Prix de Beauté on this webpage.

An international effort with pan-European appeal, Prix de Beauté proved popular and played across Europe. Enough, that is, to be noted in the upper left hand corner of the front page of this 1931 newspaper from Iceland.

Louise Brooks film Prix de Beauté screens in Italy

The 1930 Louise Brooks film, Prix de Beauté, will be screened on June 23rd as part of the 26th edition of Il Cinema Ritrovato festival in Bologna, Italy. The prestigious international festival is put on by the Mostra Internazionale del Cinema Libero and Cineteca di Bologna. The program from the event can be viewed and even downloaded on this page.

Here is the small listing for the Prix showing, which will be accompanied by Timothy Brock and a (newly?) commissioned score.

I don't know for sure, but suspect, that the festival will screen the silent version of Augusto Genina's Prix de Beauté. It is considered superior to the more commonly seen sound version, which has added sound effects, dialogue and a couple of songs. Genina was an Italian director working in France when he came to make the film, which was based on a story idea by the German director G.W. Pabst (who made Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl) and the French director Rene Clair. Brooks' voice was dubbed in the sound version (she didn't speak French), and a professional singer sang the lovely theme song Brooks is shown singing.

Prix de Beauté has great charm, and its ending scene is considered one of the most remarkable passages in film history. A clip is embedded below. If you haven't seen Prix de Beauté, please note that this fragment contains spoilers.

Louise Brooks film Prix de Beauté to screen in Bologna

I don't yet know many details, but it looks like the 1930 Louise Brooks film, Prix de Beauté, will be screened on June 23rd as part of the 26th edition of Il Cinema Ritrovato festival in Bologna, Italy. That is according to the cinemaitaliano.info website. The prestigious international festival is put on by the Mostra Internazionale del Cinema Libero and Cineteca di Bologna. Their website is here.

I don't know for sure, but suspect, that the festival will screen the silent version of Augusto Genina's Prix de Beauté. It is considered superior to the more commonly seen sound version, which has added sound effects, dialogue and a couple of songs. Genina was an Italian director working in France when he came to make the film, which was based on a story idea by the German director G.W. Pabst (who made Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl) and the French director Rene Clair. Brooks' voice was dubbed in the sound version (she didn't speak French), and a professional singer sang the lovely theme song Brooks is shown singing.

Prix de Beauté has great charm, and its ending scene is considered one of the most remarkable passages in film history. A clip is embedded below. If you haven't seen Prix de Beauté, please note that this fragment contains spoilers.

Prix de beauté screens Christmas Eve in Paris

The 1930 Louise Brooks film, Prix de beauté, will be screened in Paris on Christmas Eve at the Forum des Images. The film, which will be shown at 2:30 pm, is being presented as part of the series of great films made in the French city. 

The Forum des Images is located at Forum des Halles, Passage Rambuteau, 75001 PARIS 01. 

Details on the Friday, December 24 screening can be found at www.forumdesimages.fr/Collections/notice/VDP1017  More on this special event on the Louise Brooks column on examiner.com

Iceland and Louise Brooks, in the news

The recent eruption of a volcano in Iceland and the havoc it is causing across Europe has returned the island nation to the news.

Louise Brooks has also been "in the news" in Iceland. Here is the front page of a November, 1931 issue of the Morgunbladid newspaper from Reykjavik, Iceland. The advertisement in the upper left hand corner is for the 1930 film, Prix de Beaute, which in Icelandic was called Fegurdardrottning Evropu. The actress' name is in bold and all caps.

Other examples of advertisements for Brooks' film can be found. Individuals interested in further exploring the online Morgunbladid newspaper archive should visit this page. It is part of the VESTNORD project (1696-2002). Of course, the handful of newspapers found there are in the Icelandic language, but keyword searches in English under the name of an actor or actress will get some results. And from there, one can start to piece together bit and pieces.