Sunday, December 25, 2011

Best 2011 releases for the Louise Brooks fan

It’s that time of the year when bloggers issue their "Best of" lists - the year’s recommended new releases in books, film, music and more. Last year saw the release of a handful of important new releases related to or in homage to Louise Brooks. This year is no different. Though the number of new works related to or inspired by the actress is smaller, it is nevertheless distinguished. Prominent among them in 2011 is Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, in which Brooks is pictured in a book and included in a brief clip from her 1929 film Pandora's Box. Otherwise, fans of the legendary silent film star will want to check out each of these recent releases.

Ebook: My Afternoon With Louise Brooks, by Tom Graves (Rhythm Oil Publications)

-- In 1982, writer and journalist Tom Graves hoped to write a biography of one of the most reclusive stars in the history of cinema. My Afternoon With Louise Brooks is the author's brief account of his now long ago meeting and subsequent dealings with the actress, much of which centered on his never realized biography. Or, as the ebook description puts it, "After 30 years Graves finally tells his tale as the last journalist to ever be admitted into the bedroom of this cult legend." Following its release earlier this year, Graves expanded his ebook to include additional material, making it a more satisfying read. My Afternoon With Louise Brooks is available as an ebook on Amazon.com

Music: Lulu, by Lou Reed and Metallica (Warner Bros.)

-- Like the 1929 Brooks' film Pandora's Box, this musical collaboration between rock greats Lou Reed and Metallica was inspired by Frank Wedekind's two Lulu plays, which together tells the story of a young dancer's life and loves. At times noisy, repetitive, harsh, aggressive, droning, abrasive, and droll - this is 21st century expressionist music which stems not from any rock tradition, but rather an art-music background. Lulu won't be everyone's cup of tea. In fact, it has been poorly received among fans of Reed and Metallica. Nevertheless, it's a strong brew.

Book: Jim Tully: American Writer, Irish Rover, Hollywood Brawler by Paul Bauer and Mark Dawidziak (Kent State University Press)

-- Many saw the dark side of the American dream, but few wrote about it like Jim Tully (1886 - 1947). This first ever biography of the writer describes the hardscrabble life of the Irish American storyteller - from his immigrant roots, rural upbringing, and life as a hobo riding the rails to his success and eventual fame as a journalist and novelist in 1920s and 1930s Hollywood. Tully also authored Beggars of Life, a novelistic memoir made into a 1928 film starring Brooks. The two met then, and did not hit it off. Three years earlier, Brooks - in the company of Charlie Chaplin - attended the stage adaption of the book on Broadway.

Book: Making the Detective Story American: Biggers, Van Dine and Hammett and the Turning Point of the Genre, 1925-1930, by J.K. Van Dover (McFarland)

-- In 1929, Louise Brooks and William Powell co-starred in The Canary Murder Case; the film was based on bestselling book of the same name by the pseudonymous S.S. Van Dine, a once-popular and critically esteemed author of detective fiction. Though little read today, Van Dine is considered an important early figure in the development of the modern detective story. Back in the 1920s and 1930s, many of his books were bestsellers, and many were turned into popular films and radio programs. Van Dine is one of three writers featured in a this new book - a critical study.

Book: Myrna Loy: The Only Good Girl in Hollywood, by Emily W. Leider (University of California Press)

-- One might not associate Louise Brooks with Myrna Loy. Both were from Western cities, and both were teens when discovered. One was a silent film actress whose career largely faded with the coming of sound, the other a star of the sound era best known for her role in the Thin Man series of the 1930's. (The co-star of that series was William Powell.) Their careers intersected early on when Loy played one of the many international female sirens in A Girl in Every Port (1928), which starred Brooks. Later in life, in 1982, both were chosen as recipients of the George Eastman House for lifetime contribution to the movies. Emily W. Leider has penned a first ever biography of a wry and sophisticated actress whose extraordinary career spanned six decades. [Speaking of A Girl in Every Port, it is one of the films covered in The Fox Film Corporation, 1915-1935: A History and Filmography, by Aubrey Solomon (McFarland). A couple of passages about the film can be found in this other new book.]

Book: The Chaperone, by Laura Moriarty (Riverhead)

-- Looking ahead, the big Louise Brooks-related release in 2012 promises to be Laura Moriarty's The Chaperone (Riverhead). Set for publication in June of next year, this captivating new novel tells the story of the woman who chaperoned an irreverent Louise Brooks to New York City in 1922 (on her way to becoming a Denishawn dancer), and the summer that would change them both. Moriarty, who hails from Kansas, is a processed fan of the silent film star. Her earlier novels include While I'm Falling (2010) and The Center of Everything (2004).

Friday, December 23, 2011

Chaplin's Gold Rush to screen in San Francisco Bay Area

Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush (1925) is considered not only one of Chaplin's best films and one the great films of all time - but it also plays an important, even pivotal role in the life story of Louise Brooks.

Legendary in the annals of film history, The Gold Rush is the film in which Chaplin as the Little Tramp eats his boot and, at a would-be New Year's Eve dinner gathering, poignantly performs the "Dance of the Rolls." In 1998, the American Film Institute chose The Gold Rush as one of the 100 greatest films ever made.

A newly restored 35 mm print of The Gold Rush screens for seven days beginning December 23 at the Rafael Film Center in San Rafael, California.

Seldom satisfied with his work, Chaplin added original music to the film in 1942, while also trimming several minutes and bridging the gaps with narration. Now, for the first time, the complete 1925 version - without narration - has been painstakingly restored. With the permission of the Chaplin estate, composer Timothy Brock has arranged Chaplin's 1942 orchestral score to accommodate the length of the original version. The film now runs 90 minutes, as it did at its New York City premiere at the Strand Theater.

That premiere, in the Summer of 1925, drew the famous comedic actor and director to New York. And it was there, at a cocktail party hosted by producer Walter Wanger, that Chaplin first met Louise Brooks - then a Ziegfeld Follies dancer performing at the New Amsterdam Theater. The two hit it off - and spent pretty much the entire season in one another's company. Chaplin (though married at the time) and Brooks even lived together for a time.

Chaplin and Brooks, who were often see together in public, were the subject of gossip as well as reports in some of New York City's numerous newspapers. The two also attended various plays and shows including Outside Looking In, the stage adaption of Jim Tully's book Beggars of Life. Brooks would later star in the film adaption of Tully's bestseller, as well as in later life recount the time spent with Chaplin in the Summer of 1925.

Today, The Gold Rush is regarded as one of Chaplin's best films. Though his opinion of his own work changed over the years, to the end of his life Chaplin often declared that of all his films this was the one by which he would most wish to be remembered. For those in the Bay Area, it is a great opportunity to see a great film.

More info: The Gold Rush plays at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center (1118 Fourth Street) December 23 through December 29, 2011. A list of dates and show times for The Gold Rush at the Rafael Film Center can be found at http://www.cafilm.org/rfc/films/1644.html

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

A special offer from the SF Silent Film Festival

Holiday Specials from the San Francisco Silent Film Festival

Here is the perfect stocking stuffer for the holiday season! Give heavily discounted SFSFF 2012 all-program Festival Passes to the film lovers you love. Until January 6, all Festival Passes are being offered at a very special holiday rate - lower than our early bird rates! We're planning at least 17 programs at our July 2012 Festival-wonderful films with extraordinary musical accompaniment by musicians from around the world, so don't miss out!

Buster Keaton Holiday

For each pass you purchase, you'll receive a gift voucher card suitable for giving during the holiday season. At the SF Silent Film Festival in July, you or your recipient can present the voucher card at the Will Call table at the Castro Theatre in exchange for the Festival Pass.

Members take their discount at checkout.
For questions, please email concierge@silentfilm.org 
or call 415-777-4908 x 1

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Pandora's Box with Louise Brooks to screen in Dubai

Pandora's Box, the film in which Louise Brooks famously played Lulu, is considered one of the great works of world cinema. As such, it has been shown in many countries on at least five continents. Now, the silent era masterpiece is coming to Dubai, a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) located on the Arabian peninsula.

The Dubai International Film Festival has announced that six films representing contemporary and classic German filmmaking will make up “In Focus: Germany,” a segment of the eighth annual festival to be held December 7 to 14, 2011. Among them, representing the classic period, is Pandora's Box (1929). “In Focus Germany” is organized in cooperation with German Films and Goethe-Institut Gulf-Region.

The late silent melodrama, directed by G.W. Pabst, is based on Frank Wedekind’s Lulu plays. According to an article in a UAE newspaper Gulf Today, the film "stars Louise Brooks as a thoughtless young woman who brings ruin to herself and those who love her. Brooks’ intense and timeless performance as Lulu made her one of the icons of cinema."

It's not known if the Dubai International Film Festival showing of Pandora's Box marks its debut in Dubai (which is possible), or even more generally in the Arab Middle East. According to the Louise Brooks Society bibliography of articles about the film, Pandora's Box was shown in Jerusalem in 2002.

Records also show that Brooks' American and European silent films were screened in some of the larger cities in the region in the 1920's and 1930's. For example, it is known that Brooks' 1929 American film The Canary Murder Case was screened in Cairo in the early 1930's, and that her 1930 French film, Prix de Beaute, was shown in what is now Algeria, a former French colony.

Pandora's Box was not a success when it premiered in Berlin on February of 1929. It only became famous with the re-emergence of its star in the 1960's through the efforts of ardent admirers such as Henri Langlois of the Cinémathèque Française in Paris and James Card of the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. In the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's it was revived at art houses and festivals in Europe and North America.

The print to be screened at the Dubai International Film Festival has been restored by Martin Koerber of the Deutsche Kinemathek, a project which took over 12 years. The print was shown late last year at the National Film Theater in London as part of the BFI London Film Festival. The new restoration is listed at 143 minutes, ten minutes longer than a “restored version” released by Criterion on DVD in 2008.

In cooperation with the Goethe-Institut Gulf Region, Pandora's Box will be screened for free at The Walk at JBR, the Festival’s outdoor venue, and will be accompanied by the UAE Philharmonic Orchestra (UAEPO) conducted by Philipp Maier.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Save 25% off the Louise Brooks Edition of DIARY OF A LOST GIRL

Thru December 15th - save 25% off the Louise Brooks Edition of The Diary of a Lost Girl, by Margarete Böhme. This is the book which served as the basis for the 1929 Louise Brooks film of the same name. This sensational bestseller has long been unavailable in English, and only came back into print through the efforts of the Louise Brooks Society. Get a copy today!
 
Visit http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/LBS1 to purchase the book, and to save, use coupon code BUYMYBOOK305 at check-out.

The 1929 Louise Brooks film, Diary of a Lost Girl, is based on a bestselling book first published in Germany in 1905. Though little known today, the book was a sensation at the beginning of the 20th century. Controversy, spirited debate, and even lawsuits followed its publication. By the end of the Twenties, it had sold more than 1,200,000 copies – ranking it among the bestselling books of its time.

Was it – as many believed – the real-life diary of a young woman forced by circumstance into a life of prostitution? Or a sensational and clever fake, one of the first fake novels of its kind? This contested work – a work of unusual historical significance as well as literary sophistication – inspired a sequel, a play, a parody, a score of imitators, and two silent films. The best remembered of these is the often revived G.W. Pabst film starring Louise Brooks.

This new edition of the original English language translation brings this notable work back into print after more than 100 years. And what's more, this special "Louise Brooks Edition" includes three dozen illustrations and a 20 page introduction by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society, detailing the book's remarkable history and relationship to the acclaimed silent film. Find out more at http://www.pandorasbox.com/diary.html 

Praise for the Louise Brooks Edition of THE DIARY OF A LOST GIRL

"Gladysz provides an authoritative series of essays that tell us about the author, the notoriety of her work (which was first published in 1905), and its translation to the screen. Production stills, advertisements, and other ephemera illustrate these introductory chapters. In today’s parlance this would be called a 'movie tie-in edition,' but that seems a rather glib way to describe yet another privately published work that reveals an enormous amount of research — and passion." -- Leonard Maltin

"Read today, it's a fascinating time-trip back to another age, and yet remains compelling. As a bonus, Gladysz richly illustrates the text with stills of Brooks from the famous film." -- Jack Garner, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

"Thomas Gladysz is the leading authority on all matters pertaining to the legendary Louise Brooks. We owe him a debt of gratitude for bringing the groundbreaking novel, The Diary of a Lost Girl - the basis of Miss Brooks's classic 1929 film - back from obscurity. It remains a fascinating work." -- Lon Davis, author of Silent Lives
 
"Long relegated to the shadows, Margarete Böhme's 1905 novel, The Diary of a Lost Girl has at last made a triumphant return. In reissuing the rare 1907 English translation of Böhme's German text, Thomas Gladysz makes an important contribution to film history, literature, and, in as much as Böhme told her tale with much detail and background contemporary to the day, sociology and history. He gives us the original novel, his informative introduction, and many beautiful and rare illustrations. This reissue is long overdue, and in all ways it is a volume of uncommon merit." -- Richard Buller, author of A Beautiful Fairy Tale: The Life of Actress Lois Moran

"Most certainly a book for all you Louise Brooks fans out there!! And silent cinema fans in general as well." -- Bristol Silents (UK) newsletter

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Kevin Brownlow visits the States

Kevin Brownlow first befriended Louise Brooks back in the late 1960's. He visited her in Rochester, they exchanged hundreds of letters, and Brownlow filmed an interview with the actress on at least one occasion. Louise was always very interested in Brownlow's work as a film historian, and, his seminal 1968 book, The Parade's Gone By, acknowledges her help and is in effect "dedicated" to her.

This week, Brownlow is in the United States to give three presentations. If you have never seen him speak, do so. I have seen him speak at least a half-dozen times - and have always found him to be a fascinating speaker. [Pictured right is a snapshot of Kevin and I taken last year in San Francisco.]

On Friday, November 25th, Brownlow will speak at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. about his decades long effort to restore Abel Gance's epic Napoleon (1927). On Saturday, November 26th, Brownlow will give a talk at the Library of Congress about his life as a film historian. This latter presentation, which will include clips from early movies, is set to take place at the LOC Packard Campus Theater in Culpeper, Virginia. And, on December 1st, Brownlow will be speaking at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Follow the above links for more information about each event.

More on Brownlow and his work as a film historian and these upcoming events can be found on my column on examiner.com
And more about Brownlow and his work can be found on Brownlow's own website, Photoplay Productions.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Happy Birthday Louise Brooks

Happy Birthday to Louise Brooks, who was born on this day in 1906 in Cherryvale, Kansas. Celebrate, and give RadioLulu a listen!

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