Cool pic of the day: Louise Brooks

Louise Brooks' film closes Denver Silent Film Festival

On Sunday, September 23, the Denver Silent Film Festival will screen Pandora's Box (1929) at the King Center in Denver, Colorado. Live musical accompaniment will be provided by Donald Sosin. Additional details, and ticket availability, can be found here.  The Denver Post ran a piece about the Festival which can be found here.

If you can't make it to the Denver event, please note that Pandora's Box will be shown on Sunday, November 4 on Turner Classic Movies (TCM).

Beggars of Life with Louise Brooks screens at Andy Warhol Museum

Beggars of Life (1928), the sensational William Wellman directed film starring Louise Brooks, will be shown at the Andy Warhol Museum (117 Sandusky Street) in Pittsburgh, PA on Friday November 2nd. The screening is part of a series of films called "Unseen Treasures from The George Eastman House." The Warhol will screen a newly restored, 35mm archival print of the 81 minute silent film with live musical accompaniment. More information about this special event can be found on the Warhol Museum website. 

The event description reads "Louise Brooks’ penetrating charisma and transcendent naturalness made her an icon of 1920s silent cinema.  In director William Wellman's early Depression-era portrait of transient life, she gave one of her absolute strongest performances during her brief stint in the Hollywood, playing a girl who must go on the run after killing her abusive stepfather in self-defense. Fleeing, she meets the handsome drifter Richard Arlen and the two hit the road, one step ahead of the law and soon encounter Oklahoma Red (Wallace Beery), a tough, high-spirited hobo. Together they ride the rails, with Brooks dressed as a boy, through a hobo underworld where danger is always close at hand. This empathetic, darkly realistic drama is loaded with stunning visuals and is one of the great late silent-era features.  The Warhol Museum continues its partnership with the world-renowned photograph and motion picture archives, George Eastman House, to bring rarely shown silent and early sound masterpieces from its extensive collection exclusively to Pittsburgh."

Here is another lobby card for the film, which to my eye, contains a few stylistic touches which anticipate Pop art. I think Warhol would have liked them.

Louise Brooks in Movie Collectors World

Louise Brooks appears on the cover of the October 2012 issue of Movie Collector's World. There is also a two page article about the actress by David Hogan. The article, "Discovering Louise Brooks," is on pages 18 and 19. Copies of Movie Collector's World can be found on newsstands; or, print copies can be ordered through the Movie Collector's World website at http://www.mcwonline.com/

If you can't find Movie Collector's World at your local newsstand, you can read and/or download a digital copy of the magazine for free at http://mcw-bi.s3.amazonaws.com/2012/772.pdf  I liked David Hogan's piece. It is a nice written appreciation.

Pandora's Box screens in UK with new score

Pandora's Box (1929), starring Louise Brooks, will be shown in England with a new score by Hildur Guðnadóttir and Jóhann Jóhannsson. The two Icelandic composers have composed a new score for the G.W. Pabst's silent film, which they will perform live with Philip Jeck and clarinettist Dov Goldberg in four cities across the UK.

The film, which traces the rise and fall of Lulu (played by Brooks), will be screened with the new score at the London Islington Assembly Hall (31 October), Leeds Howard Assembly Room (1 November), Manchester Royal Northern College of Music (2 November), and Coventry Warwick Arts Centre (3 November).

The event description for the Manchester screening reads: "GW Pabst’s 1929 silent film follows the rise and fall of the captivating, amoral young prostitute Lulu. Brought to life by the inimitable and incandescent Louise Brooks, the heroine of GW Pabst’s 1929 silent film is driven by curiosity and expresses herself only through pleasure. This special screening is accompanied by a brand new live score by award-winning Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson and cellist and composer Hildur Gudnadóttir (Múm/Animal Collective), featuring Philip Jeck."

It is amazing to me how often this film is shown, and how often a new score are composed for it.

If you can't make it to the UK to see the film or to hear this new score, please note that Pandora's Box will be shown in the United States on Sunday, September 23 at the Denver Silent Film Festival and on Sunday, November 4 on Turner Classic Movies (TCM).

Canary Murder Case released on DVD in Italy

Yesterday, I reported on the forthcoming release of Overland Stage Raiders (1938). Louise Brooks last film will be released on DVD and BluRay in early October. The release of Overland Stage Raiders by Olive Films marks the first time this B-western starring John Wayne will be available on DVD.

Now come word that another hard-to-come-by Brooks' film, The Canary Murder Case (1929), will be or already has been released on DVD in Italy.