God's Gift to Women now on DVD

Warner Archive has given the 1931 Louise Brooks film, God's Gift to Women, its first ever commercial release. This Michael Curtiz directed film (Robin Hood, Casablanca) is a 72-minute  pre-code farce starring Frank Fay, Laura LaPlante and Joan Blondell. Brooks has only a supporting role, but makes an impression. It was one of three films the actress made in 1931, and is probably the best of the her American sound films. That's the good news.

Now here is the not so good news. Like the other films released by Warner Archive, his item is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. This title has been manufactured from the best-quality video master currently available and has not been remastered or restored for this DVD/Digital Download release. It is expected to play back in DVD Video "play only" devices, and may not play in other DVD devices, including recorders and PC drives.

The Warner Archive descriptive text reads: "One kiss could kill him! Frank Fay, Joan Blondell and Louise Brooks sparkle in a pre-Code bedroom farce about a debonair heart patient who dares not pucker up for the girl he loves."

“If you want to live, you must follow the tranquil existence of an oyster,” the eminent cardiologist warns his terrified patient. “No excitement and no women. One kiss and you die!” Mon Dieu! No kissing? That’s the kiss of death for ladies’ man Toto Duryea. And especially now, when he’s found the woman who has won his heart forever. Too bad that heart is one sick ticker. Vaudeville and stage star Frank Fay portrays Toto in this jaunty pre-Code bedroom farce set in Paris and directed by the legendary Michael Curtiz (Casablanca, Life With Father). Vivacious kewpie doll Joan Blondell and flapper femme fatale Louise Brooks are among former lovers who rush to Toto’s bedside eager to provide comfort. But he rejects them all for a hard-to-get American beauty (Laura LaPlante) whose lips have touched his only once. And oh how he longs to repeat the experience. Will Toto give his life for one more heavenly smooch?  

God's Gift to Women can be purchased through Warner Archive or Amazon.com The Warner Archive webpage also has a three minute clip from the film (not the trailer) which has the character (played by Charles Winninger) mention he is from Rochester (NY? - Brooks' future home) while his French friend lets slip the phrase "a sweetheart in every port."

Louise Brooks Society wish list

Wondering what to get the Louise Brooks Society this Holiday Season? Here are a few items from the LBS wish list. (Follow this link to see the complete list.) And while you're checking it out, why not get something for yourself.

From Shakespeare to Frisch: The Provocative Fritz Kortner

by Richard Critchfield (Hardcover)

Available from these sellers.

4 Used & New from $48.65

Diary of a Lost Girl (Louise Brooks)

Minos Matsas (Audio CD)

Available from these sellers.

2 Used & New from $45.00

 

Valentina come Louise Brooks. Il libro nascosto

by Guido Crepax (Paperback)

Available from these sellers.

1 Used & New from $28.86

    

 

The Mad Square: Modernity in German Art 1910-1937

by Jacqeline Strecker (Hardcover)

In Stock. Offered by Amazon.com

32 Used & New from $41.65

Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties

by Teresa A. Carbone (Hardcover)

In Stock. Offered by Amazon.com

59 Used & New from $33.69

 

Lulu: Slipcase Edition

Metallica (Audio CD)

In Stock.Offered by Amazon.com

3 Used & New from $29.16

 

Le rire du diable (Champs erotiques) (French Edition)

by Roland Jaccard (Paperback)

Available from these sellers.

5 Used & New from $23.87

New Confessions

by William Boyd (Paperback)

Available from these sellers.

33 Used & New from $8.74

 

Legendary Sin Cities - Paris, Berlin & Shangh​ai

Ted Remerowski (DVD)

In Stock. Offered by Amazon.com

25 Used & New from $10.45

 

American Cinema of the 1920s: Themes and Variations

by Lucy Fischer (Paperback)

In Stock. Offered by Amazon.com

25 Used & New from $18.24

  

Dangerous Dames: Women & Represe​ntation In Weimar Street Film &

by Jans B. Wager (Hardcover)

In Stock. Offered by Amazon.com

31 Used & New from $0.33

 

Movie-Struck Girls

by Shelley Stamp (Paperback)

In Stock. Offered by Amazon.com

40 Used & New from $18.58

        

The Artificial Silk Girl

by Irmgard Keun (Paperback)

In Stock. Offered by Amazon.com

69 Used & New from $4.35

   

A Girl in Every Port with Louise Brooks at George Eastman House

The 1928 Louise Brooks film, A Girl in Every Port, screens on December 4th at 8:00 pm in the Dryden Theater at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. That's the same theater where Louise Brooks used to watch films in the 1960s. Here's what the GEH website has to say about this event:

A Girl in Every Port
(Howard Hawks, US 1928, 62 min.)

Preceded by:
The Treasurer’s Report
(Thomas Chalmers, US 1928, 10 min.)
 

Silent Tuesdays. Movie theatres were just being wired for sound in 1928, so it wouldn’t have been unusual for a cinema to show a silent starring a tried-and-true draw like Louise Brooks in A Girl in Every Port — where Brooks shows her considerable talent for wearing a tight-fitting bathing suit through most of the film — with one of the newfangled “talkies.” Here it’s humorist Robert Benchley’s film debut The Treasurer’s Report, in which he established his soon-to-be world-famous befuddled public speaker routine. A Girl in Every Port was Brooks’s last film before going off to Germany to make Pandora’s Box, her last American silent starring role, and one of the last silent films Fox made. Can Brooks survive both high diving and the “suave” attentions of Victor McLaglen and Robert Armstrong?

December at Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum

The Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in Fremont has a festive December schedule. In time for the holidays, there's the classic Babes in Toyland and the great epic Ben-Hur, as well as a classic Buster Keaton comedy filmed in Northern California, an action-packed Western, and a seldom shown, quirky comedy about a rich, hypochondriac heiress. Each is presented with live musical accompaniment.

Along with their regular "Saturday Night at the Movies" programming, there is also a "Comedy Short Subject Night," and the above mentioned special holiday themed Laurel & Hardy Talkie Matinee. All together, it is a great month of early cinema in the East Bay. And what's more, a few of the films feature actors or directors who worked with Louise Brooks. Here's what's playing.

"Saturday Night at the Movies" with Judy Rosenberg at the piano
Saturday December 1  at 7:30 pm

The Great K & A Train Robbery (1926, Fox Film) is an action-packed Western starring Tom Mix, Dorothy Dwan, and Mix's famous horse, Tony. (Future star John Wayne reportedly worked as a property assistant on the film, and also appears as an extra.) The film, based on the story of an actual train robbery, was mostly shot on location in Colorado and is notable for its stunts, action scenes and use of breathtaking locations. This seldom screened feature will be preceded by two shorts, Felix Busts a Bubble (1926, Sullivan) with Felix the Cat, and Mum’s the Word (1926, Roach) with Charley Chase.

"Saturday Night at the Movies" with Bruce Loeb at the piano
Saturday December 8 at 7:30 pm 

In Feel My Pulse (1928, Paramount), a rich, hypochondriac heiress inherits a sanitarium. What she doesn't know is that it's a front for bootleggers, and a hideout for criminals on the run from the law. Directed by Gregory La Cava, the film stars Bebe Daniels, Richard Arlen and William Powell. (The latter two co-starred in three Louise Brooks films: Arlen in Rolled Stockings and Beggars of Life, Powell in The Canary Murder Case.) This quirky comedy, considered La Cava best silent, will be preceded by two shorts, The Life and Death of 9413, a Hollywood Extra (1928), an experimental short directed by Robert Florey (King of Gamblers, 1937) and photographed by Gregg Toland, and Crazy Like a Fox (1926, Hal Roach), a comedy with Charley Chase.

"Laurel & Hardy Talkie Matinee"
Sunday December 9 at 4:00 pm

Laurel and Hardy star in Babes in Toyland (1934), a Christmas favorite of storybook characters come to life with Ollie Dee and Stanley Dum battling the evil Barnaby (played by Henry Brandon). Also on the bill are Laughing Gravy (1935) starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, and Our Gang Follies of 1938 (1938), with Our Gang.

"Comedy Short Subject Night" with Judy Rosenberg at the piano
Saturday December 15 at 7:30 pm

If you love to laugh, then don't miss this monthly program of short films featuring some of the most famous comedians of the silent film era. On the bill are His New Job (1915, Essanay) with Charlie Chaplin, The Goat (1921, Comique) with Buster Keaton, High and Dizzy (1920, Rolin) with Harold Lloyd, an Big Business (1929, Hal Roach) with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.

"Saturday Night at the Movies" with Jon Mirsalis at the Kurzweil
Saturday December 22 at 7:30 pm 

Ramon Novarro (as Judah Ben-Hur) and Francis X. Bush­man (as Messala) lead a big cast of stars (May McAvoy, Betty Bronson, Carmel Myers, Claire McDowell - the latter was featured in the 1926 Louise Brooks film, The Show Off) in Ben-Hur (1925, MGM), Fred Niblo's Biblical epic that rivals and some say surpasses the popular 1959 William Wyler remake. The film is notable for many reasons, especially the chariot race. Ben-Hur marked a comeback for Bush­man, who got his start at the Essanay studio in Chicago.  No shorts will be shown beforehand for this program due to its length. There will also be an intermission.

"Saturday Night at the Movies" with Frederick Hodges at the piano
Saturday December 29 at 7:30 pm 

Buster Keaton filmed Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928, Buster Keaton Produc­tions), a Mississippi riverboat comedy, in and around Sacramento, California. The film, which includes one of his most famous and dangerous stunts, tells the story of the effete son of a cantankerous riverboat captain who joins his father's crew. This classic feature will be preceded by two shorts, The Stagecoach Driver and the Girl (1915, Selig Polyscope) with Tom Mix, and Fluttering Hearts (1927, Hal Roach) with Charley Chase.

For more info: The Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum is located at 37417 Niles Blvd. in Fremont, California. For further information, call (510) 494-1411 or visit the Museum's website at www.nilesfilmmuseum.org/.

Andy Stott - Numb (Video)

This music video includes a bit of Louise Brooks.

Louise Brooks inspired music by Cristiano Arcelli

Italian musician Cristiano Arcelli is hoping to raise funds for his Louise Brooks inspired music. Read more (in Italian) on this webpage.

Sponsorizza il nuovo cd di Cristiano Arcelli, vai su www.musicraiser.com e scegli fra le ricompense in basso a destra.

BROOKS.
Il nuovo gruppo di Cristiano Arcelli dedicato a Louise Brook, la diva dark del cinema muto.
Una musica di fusione tra il jazz, l'hardcore e il punk.

Cristiano Arcelli - sax alto, composizioni, arrangiamento
Federico Casagrande - chitarra elettrica
Marcello Giannini - chitarra elettrica
Zeno de Rossi - batteria

Louise Brooks tribute video, with music by Marcella Detroit

Found on YouTube, a Louise Brooks tribute video, with music by Marcella Detroit (formerly of Shakespear's Sister).