Stolen Moments on Louise Brooks

Don't forget to check out the latest installment of "Stolen Moments," Donna Hill's always interesting silent film podcast. "Episode "Forever Lulu"  is number 19 in the series. I am a regular listener.

Though the show is usually focussed on "all things Valentino" (Donna also runs a fantastic Valentino website and is the author of a book in the works about the great silent film star), this latest episode is devoted to Louise Brooks. What's the connection? Brooks was a fan of the actor. We know that. And, according to one published account, she met him at a party not long before his premature death in 1926. Brooks also attended his New York funeral. But anyways, who needs a reason to talk about Louise Brooks?

Mike Nichols on Natalie Portman and Louise Brooks

Once again, Natalie Portman is associated with Louise Brooks. . . . The first time was in 1994, when Portman appeared in The Professional wearing a bob haircut.

And now again, in an article in today's Guardian newspaper, "The actress was a paragon of principle, a hugely talented brainbox who happened to be both bombshell and bewitcher, who rewrote the rule book for young Hollywood hot shots. 'It confuses people to think that someone so completely beautiful could be a first-rate actor, too,' says veteran director Mike Nichols, to whom Portman is very close. 'It's hard to grasp, but it's happened. It's happened a few times before, with Garbo and Louise Brooks'."

TONIGHT: Louise Brooks double feature at Harvard

A Girl in Every Port (1928) and The Canary Murder Case (1929) will be shown at the Harvard Film Archive, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, 24 Quincy Street, in Cambridge, Mass. Tonight's start time is 7:00 pm. For more information about this rare double bill, click there.*

Special Event Tickets $10 - Double Feature Admission 
Live Piano Accompaniment by Martin Marks
Introduction by Caroline Yaeger, Assistant Curator, George Eastman House

A Girl in Every Port

Directed by Howard Hawks
With Louise Brooks, Victor McLaglen
US 1928, 35mm, b/w, silent, 64 min.

A rousing action comedy, A Girl In Every Port is arguably the first quintessential Howard Hawks film, one of the earliest to fully explore the themes of male bonding and sexual relations that would preoccupy the director throughout his entire career. Brooks plays Marie, a protofemme fatale who lures sailors to commit acts of folly. Brooks' wonderful turn in the film brought her to Pabst's attention and rocketed her to sudden celebrity.

The Canary Murder Case

Directed by Malcolm St. Clair
With Louise Brooks, William Powell, Jean Arthur
US 1929, 35mm, b/w, 82 min

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One of Paramount's biggest hits of 1929, The Canary Murder Case is a wonderful example of the sophisticated brand of comedy that remained extremely popular in the years leading up to the Production Code. One of Hollywood's earliest private eye films, The Canary Murder Case stars William Powell as the debonair detective Phil Vance, investigating the suspicious career of the eponymous Canary (Brooks), an immoral nightclub singer with a cast of impatient lovers. The script, co-written by Herman J. Mankiewicz, sparkles with sexual innuendo. Brooks' refusal to dub her own voice when Paramount decided to turn the film into a talkie helped alienate her from the studios.

* When A Girl in Every Port was first shown at Harvard in 1928, The Crimson, the Harvard student newspaper wrote, "The main interest of the story comes when Spike meets his rival, and 'the' girl - Louise Brooks. From then on the picture might well be entitled 'A Text Book for Pugilistic Aspirants.' In a word, the picture is very amusing and eminently well worth seeing; well directed with Miss Brooks and Mr. McLaglen forming a very delightful contrast."

Films to Know About . . .

This bit appeared in Kristi Turnquist's "Pop Talk" column in Friday's Portland Oregonian.

Dreading holiday party chitchat? Here's a resource to consider: "In the Know: The Classic Guide to Being Cultured and Cool" (Penguin, $13, 240 pages). Author Nancy MacDonell arms you for cocktail conversation with such tidbits as "Ten Books You Should Read" (example: F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Tender Is the Night"); "Ten Films to Know About" (the silent Louise Brooks classic, "Pandora's Box"); "Ten Landmark Buildings and their Architects" (Lovell Health House, by Richard Neutra, with bonus pronunciation guide of "NOY-tra").

Underworld

Images of Louise Brooks, set to the music of Underworld, a Liverpool band. Enjoy . . .

Window display

A snapshot of the little window display I created at The Booksmith in San Francisco. I placed a copy of Silent Movies, by Peter Kobel, in the store window to promote the San Francisco Silent Film Festival screenings on December 1st. And of course, I couldn't help but put a copy of Barry Paris' Louise Brooks biography in the window as well. (I have subsequently added Matthew Kennedy's new Joan Blondell book, as well.)

Joan Blondell: A Life Between Takes

For those in the San Francisco Bay Area: Tuesday night, I will be hosting film historian Matthew Kennedy for a talk and booksigning to mark the publication of Joan Blondell: A Life Between Takes, the first major biography of the effervescent, scene-stealing actress (1906-1979) who conquered motion pictures, vaudeville, Broadway, summer stock, television, and radio. Frequent co-star to James Cagney, Clark Gable, Edward G. Robinson, and Humphrey Bogart, friend to Judy Garland, Barbara Stanwyck, and Bette Davis, and wife of Dick Powell and Mike Todd, Blondell was a true Hollywood insider. By the time of her death, she had made nearly 100 films in a career that spanned over fifty years. Blondell, as many of you may know, also appeared along with Louise Brooks in God's Gift to Women (1931).

Kennedy’s book offers extensive research and insights gained from the cooperation of Blondell’s friends, family, and colleagues – this new book is a must read for anyone interested in early Hollywood. I hope some of you can make it to this special event, which will take place at The Booksmith (1644 Haight Street) in San Francisco. Start time is 7 pm

Matthew Kennedy teaches anthropology at the City College of San Francisco and film history at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He is the author of Marie Dressler: A Biography and Edmund Goulding's Dark Victory: Hollywood's Genius Bad Boy.