Quentin Tarantino’s list of the greatest movies of all time includes a Louise Brooks film

Last month, England's Far Out magazine ran a piece titled "Quentin Tarantino’s handwritten list of the 11 greatest films of all time." The article states, "It comes as little surprise that Tarantino has studied the significant moments of cinematic history with an unrelenting thirst to quench his artistic desire. So, when the filmmaker was asked to pick 11 films which he considered to be the greatest of all time, it will come as little surprise that he struggled to define it with precision."

Here is Tarantino’s handwritten list, as shown on the Far Out magazine website.

Not surprisingly, at least to me, is that it includes the G.W. Pabst directed Pandora's Box. The 1929 Louise Brooks film, in which the actress famously plays Lulu, is the only silent film to make the list.

I say not surprisingly, because Pabst and Pandora's Box have been lurking beneath the sheen of Tarantino's films for some time. For example, if you had the opportunity to see the director's most recent film, Once Upon a Time in ... Hollywood, which is set in 1960s Los Angeles, you may have noticed that shortly after the legendary L.A. nightclub Pandora's Box is shown in Tarantino's film, a character named Lulu is introduced. Coincidence? Perhaps. Cinematic nod? More likely. And then there is Uma Thurman's severe Louise Brooks-like bob in an earlier Tarantino film, Pulp Fiction (1994).

G.W. Pabst was also given a big shout out in an earlier Tarantino film, Inglourious Basterds. In that 2009 movie, a few characters in the film (who include members of the French underground who also happen to be cinephiles) talk about movies while dropping the names of various historical figures. Much of the later action in the film - including an attempt to kill Adolph Hitler - takes place in a small Parisian theater which had been showing a Pabst film, White Hell of Pitz Palu. That was the film Pabst shot in 1929 between making his two classic films with Louise Brooks, Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl.

Is all this coincidence, or a form of cinematic homage in the form of cinematic Easter eggs. You be the judge. For more on Quentin Tarantino, G.W. Past and Louise Brooks, see my earlier blog Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood - Quentin Tarantino & Louise Brooks. And Q., if you are reading this, drop me a line.

Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood - Quentin Tarantino & Louise Brooks

During a recent trip to Michigan I found myself in Traverse City, where I went past the historic State Theater, which is owned by documentary filmmaker Micheal Moore. The State was showing Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in ... Hollywood. Out front, in the sidewalk, are the hand prints of a few celebrities who have visited the theater. I noticed the lovely Geraldine Chaplin (the daughter of Charlie Chaplin and the star of one of my all-time favorite films, Doctor Zhivago).

A week later, I was in Los Angeles, and thanks to dear friends had the opportunity to attend a 35 mm screening of Once Upon a Time in ... Hollywood at the historic Beverly Cinema, which is owned by Quentin Tarantino. I enjoyed the film a good deal, and thought I spotted a Louise Brooks-related Easter egg.... shortly after the legendary late 1960s LA nightclub Pandora's Box is depicted in Tarantino's film, a character named Lulu is introduced. Coincidence? Perhaps.

Coincidentally for real, in 1931, the Beverly showed one of the most unusual double bills I've ever come across while researching the career of Louise Brooks. That double bill featured the 1931 Paramount farce It Pays to Advertise (featuring Louise Brooks) and the 1929 German mountain movie White Hell of Pitz Palu (directed by G.W. Pabst during the months between his making Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl). What the patrons of the Beverly thought of this strange double bill one could only guess.

It is worth noting that Quentin Tarantino gave Pabst's White Hell of Pitz Palu a big shout out in his earlier film, Inglorious Bastards, as seen in the image below. Why, I can't say. Perhaps it's because Tarantino, like G.W. Pabst, is an indie director. And perhaps Tarantino feels an affinity for other independents and film history. Q., if you're reading this, drop me a line.