I'm in Love with a German Film Star

Here is a 1981 clip of The Passions performing their hit song "I'm in Love with a German Film Star" on the UK TV show Top of the Pops. A few years back, I exchanged emails with the Passion's lead singer. Though a longtime fan of Louise Brooks, she said this song wasn't written about the actress, who appeared in two German films. Nevertheless, we like it a lot. The song can also be heard on RadioLulu.

Report From the Czech Republic: Film a živá hudba: Deník ztracené vs Vložte kočku

Film a živá hudba: Deník ztracené vs Vložte kočku

KEŠA | ČLÁNKY / REPORTY | 29.07.2013

Třetí den začala na Letní filmové škole v cyklu němých filmů retrospektiva německého režiséra Georga Wilhelma Pabsta, rodáka z Roudnice nad Labem. Jeho filmy uvidíme v této sekci až do konce festivalu. Jako první byl uveden snímek Deník ztracené z roku 1929 s hudebním doprovodem kapely Vložte kočku.

Znám jen málo českých kapel, které mají na koncertech tak odlišný projev oproti studiovým nahrávkám. Dokonce jsou i takoví, co jejich desky neposlouchají, i když tvrdí, že je to jejich oblíbená kapela, naživo. Mám rád obě roviny – po dnešku ale i tu „filmovou“.

Vložte kočku se na 107minutový set připravili perfektně. Začali po krátkém „mlčení“ přísně, odklepnutím bubenických paliček, a pak už nenechali diváky téměř vydechnout. K jednotlivým scénám vložili svůj zvuk známý z koncertů. Místo zpěvu si vybrali dvě vedlejší postavy filmu, slizkého lékárníka, kterému klávesák vkládal do úst mumlání dementa, a zápornou postavu ženy, kterou houslista uváděl v jednotlivých scénách ostrými afektovanými výkřiky do mikrofonu svého nástroje. Tím skvěle uvedli charakter postav, které už dál nepotřebovaly ani filmové titulky.

I když byl ve Slováckém divadle abnormální hic, několikrát mi během koncertu vyvstala husí kůže, některé scény byly tak dokonalé! V momentě, kdy hlavní hrdinka pyká v nápravném křesťanské zařízení a je spolu s ostatními týrána plešounem a řádovou sestrou v krutém rytmu úderů na gong, kočky jsou tam, s transformovaným songem DD z desky Táta. Když zákazník v nevěstinci obskurně tančí s hlavní hrdinkou, kočky jsou tam, v disko rytmu. Scény, kdy zasáhne do děje hrabě, jsou free jazz, skutečný a od koček. Tango v nevěstinci? Je tango od koček. K ukládání rakve do jámy hraje varhanní pohřebácká. A ten abnormální hic, v koupačce na pláži u moře, hraje abnormální hic, prostě Ivan Mládek, od koček. Závěrečná scéna je doprovázena přednahraným a modulovaným čtením všech titulků k filmu od začátku až do konce. Včetně konce.

K celé projekci si kapela nechala puštěný i originální „zvuk“ filmu, vrnění promítačky. Ten využili hlavně v momentech menších pauz, kdy záběry zůstaly bez jejich hudby. Tyto momenty působily naprosto přirozeně, i když na plátně probíhala akce. Vložte kočku museli zkoušet k tomuto filmu neuvěřitelné kvantum hodin, protože kdo si dovolí takové kousky s ledovým klidem, ten ví, co dělá. A o tom na sále, soudě dle závěrečného aplausu, nikdo nepochyboval.

Be Natural: The untold story of Alice Guy-Blaché

A Kickstarter campaign has just launched to fund the making of a documentary about the film director Alice Guy-Blaché. Check it out, and consider donating at Be Natural: The untold story of Alice Guy-Blaché.

The Louise Brooks Society endorses and has donated to this worthwhile campaign to tell the story of a pioneering and influential female figure in the film industry.

Prisoner of Paradise: The story of Kurt Gerron

This weekend, I finally had the chance to see Prisoner of Paradise (2002). "The documentary tells the true story of Kurt Gerron, a successful German-Jewish actor and director, who after being sent to a concentration camp, was forced by his captors to direct the pro-Nazi propaganda film, "The Fuhrer Gives a City to the Jews." In addition to exploring his life, it details the remarkable detective story in which Gerron's film, lost for decades after World War II, was tracked down and painstakingly put back together." I streamed it over Netflix, and noticed it can also be streamed over Amazon.

Kurt Gerron was one of the great German actors of the 1920s and 1930s. He appeared in many films and stage productions. Today, he is best remembered for a key supporting role in The Blue Angel (1930), with Marlene Dietrich. Gerron also had a part in the 1929 Louise Brooks film, The Diary of a Lost Girl, a few scenes from which are included in Prisoner of Paradise. 

 I recommend Prisoner of Paradise. It is a moving documentary well worth watching.

New book of poems based on Louise Brooks

Hazard Press in Wales has published LULU REFLECTS: A BIOPOEMOGRAPHY OF LOUISE BROOKS, a sequence of fourteen poems forming an imagined autobiography of the silent film star Louise Brooks. This hand-made book is 24 pages (105mm x 148.5mm) including card cover with patterned endpapers and Japanese binding. Edition of 100, with the number hand-stamped on the reverse.

More information and ability to order at http://www.hazardpress.co.uk/

Still: Louise Brooks in Los Angeles Times

Today's Los Angeles Times reports on David S. Shields new book, Still: American Silent Motion Picture Photography, which examines the work of early cinematographers and still photographers who helped create celebrity in the 20th century. It is an excellent book which I have only had a chance to glance at - I want to get a copy soon. Louise Brooks, as well as the photographers who photographed her - like Eugene Richee and M.I. Boris, are featured in the book.

The Los Angeles Times story can be found here. The review begins: "Shields is both scholarly and deeply passionate about the pictures (some from his own collection), gathering rare images from the sets of epic costume dramas and the kind of celebrity portraiture that would reach its ultimate expression generations later in Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone."

The article also includes a slideshow, which begins with an image of Louise Brooks (the famous Richee portrait of Brooks wearing a string of pearls). It's caption reads, "One of the most lasting images of the silent era is actress Louise Brooks wearing black against a black background, photographed by Eugene Robert Richee. In Still, David S. Shields calls it a "'minimalist masterpiece'." 

From the publisher: "The success of movies like The Artist and Hugo recreated the wonder and magic of silent film for modern audiences, many of whom might never have experienced a movie without sound. But while the American silent movie was one of the most significant popular art forms of the modern age, it is also one that is largely lost to us, as more than eighty percent of silent films have disappeared, the victims of age, disaster, and neglect. We now know about many of these cinematic masterpieces only from the collections of still portraits and production photographs that were originally created for publicity and reference. Capturing the beauty, horror, and moodiness of silent motion pictures, these images are remarkable pieces of art in their own right. In the first history of still camera work generated by the American silent motion picture industry, David S. Shields chronicles the evolution of silent film aesthetics, glamour, and publicity, and provides unparalleled insight into this influential body of popular imagery.

 

Exploring the work of over sixty camera artists, Still recovers the stories of the photographers who descended on early Hollywood and the stars and starlets who sat for them between 1908 and 1928. Focusing on the most culturally influential types of photographs—the performer portrait and the scene still—Shields follows photographers such as Albert Witzel and W. F. Seely as they devised the poses that newspapers and magazines would bring to Americans, who mimicked the sultry stares and dangerous glances of silent stars. He uncovers scene shots of unprecedented splendor—visions that would ignite the popular imagination. And he details how still photographs changed the film industry, whose growing preoccupation with artistry in imagery caused directors and stars to hire celebrated stage photographers and transformed cameramen into bankable names.

 

Reproducing over one hundred and fifty of these gorgeous black-and-white photographs, Still brings to life an entire long-lost visual culture that a century later still has the power to enchant."

And more on the Jim Tully documentary

This second video, "How Jim Tully's Beggars Abroad Came to Be," is a four minute outtake from the new Jim Tully documentary From Road Kid to Writer. Here author Paul Bauer tells an entertaining story about how one of Tully's best books came to be. Attention fans of James Joyce and George Bernard Shaw!

From Road Kid to Writer is from StoryWorks.TV. This documentary is based on Jim Tully, the first biography of the vagabond, boxer and hard-boiled writer who rocked Hollywood during the Roaring Twenties. He also authored Beggars of Life, the 1928 William Wellman directed film starring Wallace Beery and Louise Brooks. To learn more, check out this article in the local press. Or, follow the documentary on its Facebook page.

More on the Jim Tully documentary

From Road Kid to Writer, a new documentary about Jim Tully, recently premiered in the author's hometown of St. Marys, Ohio. To learn more, check out this article in the local press. Or, follow the documentary on its Facebook page.

From Road Kid to Writer is from StoryWorks.TV. This documentary is based on Jim Tully, the first biography of the vagabond, boxer and hard-boiled writer who rocked Hollywood during the Roaring Twenties. As has been noted, Tully is the most famous writer you've never heard of. He also authored Beggars of Life, the 1928 William Wellman directed film starring Wallace Beery and Louise Brooks.

Here is a related video. It is a musical short by Eric Taylor. It is called "Tully's Titles." Taylor is an American singer-songwriter from Texas. He is known for his anecdotal songs which often take the form of short stories. In addition to Taylor's seven solo releases, his songs have been recorded by Nanci Griffith, Lyle Lovett and others. "Tully's Titles" contains a Louise Brooks sighting! [I will post another video excerpt tomorrow.]