Criterion DVD of Pandora's Box

The Criterion Collection website has announced the following information regarding their forthcoming release of Pandora's Box. This version - the first ever on DVD in the United States - will run 133 minutes. Expectations are high. And I think this forthcoming release should satisfy. We shall see. Among the bonus material is the first ever DVD release of now hard-to-find documentary, Lulu in Berlin. (No release date is given. The suggested retail price is $39.95)



SPECIAL FEATURES

-- New, restored high-definition digital transfer of the definitive Munich Film Museum restoration
-- Four different musical scores, each with its own unique stylistic interpretation of the film
-- Audio commentary by film scholars Thomas Elsaesser and Mary Ann Doane
-- Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu, a 1998 documentary
-- Lulu in Berlin (48 minutes), a rare 1971 interview with Brooks by verite documentarian Richard Leacock
-- A new video interview with Leacock
-- A new interview with G. W. Pabst's son, Michael
-- New and improved English subtitle translation
-- PLUS: A book including Kenneth Tynan's famous essay "The Girl in the Black Helmet," a chapter from Louise Brooks's evocative memoir discussing her relationship with Pabst, and a new essay by film critic J. Hoberman

ABOUT THIS TRANSFER
-- Pandora's Box is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1. On widescreen televisions, black bars will appear on the left and right of the image to maintain the proper screen format. This new high-definition digital transfer was created from a 35mm composite print provided by the Munich Film Museum. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, and scratches were removed using the MTI Digital Restoration System. To maintain optimal image quality through the compression process, the picture on this dual-layer DVD-9 was encoded at the highest-possible bit rate for the quantity of material included. The Gillian Anderson score is presented in both Dolby 5.1 surround and stereo mixes. The three other scores are presented in Dolby 2.0 stereo.

Alfred Cheney Johnston

An interesting website to check out is Alfred Cheney Johnston: Ziegfeld Follies Lost Photographer. This site is dedicated to the life & times of renown Jazz Age photographer Alfred Cheney Johnston (1884 - 1971). Besides taking scores of lovely photographs of showgirls, actors and other stage personalities, Johnston also photographed Louise Brooks. This website is put together by Robert Hudovernik, author of the forthcoming book Jazz Age Beauties.

Stolen Moments

Stolen Moments is a swell silent film / Rudolph Valentino themed podcast available on the internet. I've just finished listening to the newest installment, which features a chat with Kevin Brownlow. (I've listened to each of the podcasts, and each is good.) Stolen Moments is put together and hosted by Donna Hill (aka Rudyfan), who runs an excellent website devoted to Valentino. Check it out.

William K. Everson Archive

Well worth checking out is the William K. Everson Collection, a website which archives publicity material, photographs and most importantly the film notes (short essays) of the film historian, author, critic, teacher, archivist, and collector. [ Everson knew Louise Brooks, and wrote highly of her in his terrific 1978 book, American Silent Film. And some years ago before his death, I had the pleasure of seeing Everson's 16 mm print of Beggars of Life. ] Film buffs will enjoy exploring this site.

Louise Brooks in Literature

As any reader of this blog knows, I like organizing information. It a compulsion of mine. I guess that's why I like doing research. And sometimes, I make lists. It gives me something to do. It's a kind of therapy. It keeps me off the streets.... I recently made a list at amazon.com (part of their Listmania function)  called "Homage to Lulu: Louise Brooks in Literature." It's a survey  of homages, tributes, name checks, references, etc... to the one and only Louise Brooks. It includes the likes of Neil Gaiman, Paul Auster, Frank O'Hara, Angela Carter, Salman Rushdie, Clive Barker, Lemony Snicket, John Updike and others. Another list I recently created is "Louise Brooks in Song (and Other Musical Tributes."

Speaking of literary tributes, today the popular blog known as Bookslut wrote up one of the earliest literary tributes to Brooks, The Invention of Morel (1940), by Adolpho Bioy Casares. The blogger noted

The Invention of Morel, by Adolfo Bioy Casares: An Argentinean writer much less known than his brilliant friend and collaborator, Jorge Luis Borges, “Bioy” was also less consistent in the quality of his work. But he did write at least one great book, a dreamy novella inspired by movies and the flapper actress Louise Brooks. Published in 1940, it’s also one of the earliest books which uses virtual reality as a central conceit, long before the digital age.

It begins like a Latin American version of a story by Wells or Stevenson (both favourites of Casares and of Borges, too). A mysterious island, rumours of a terrible disease, a refugee from justice, and all-too-real ghosts who keep on repeating the same actions… Tinged by post-modern ideas without losing its emotional heart, fantastic without ever seeming preposterous, this is a weird and exciting book. The Louise Brooks photo NYRB use on the cover is great, too -- the white-swathed actress with her famous bangs, surrounded by piles of books. Just like the book, it’s haunting, sexy and literary.

Elegy: London's derelict cinemas

Here's a gallery of derelict London cinemas, some of them empty hulks, some converted to discount stores, meat storage facilities, banana warehouses, or snooker and social clubs. I wonder if any of Louise Brooks' films played in any of these theaters?

Nov. 14, 1906 - Aug. 8, 1985

Mary Louise Brooks, Nov. 14, 1906 - Aug. 8, 1985. Find a Grave has a webpage where you can visit the actress' gravestite, leave a comment, or even leave virtual flowers.