A cinephilac blog about an actress, silent film, and the Jazz Age, with occasional posts about related books, music, art, and history written by Thomas Gladysz. Visit the Louise Brooks Society™ at www.pandorasbox.com
The new restoration of Diary of a Lost Girl (as seen on the new KINO DVD & Blu-ray) will be shown in New York City at the Schimmel Center at Pace University (home to "Inside the Actor's Studio") on January 31, 2016. Ben Model will provide musical accompaniment. More information about this special event can be found HERE.
Here is what film series description of the film. "After playing supporting roles in a string of light comedies at Paramount, Louise Brooks went to Germany and made two iconic and darkly dramatic films directed by G.W. Pabst. Her bobbed hair, charm and smoldering screen presence in the midst of the dark stories of PANDORA'S BOX and DIARY OF A LOST GIRL have made Brooks an icon of '20s culture. Her character in DIARY goes from one situation to another attempting to better her life, finding adversity, love, and tragedy."
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BTW: the Neue Gallery in NYC just purchased a couple dozen copies of the "Louise Brooks edition" of The Diary of a Lost Girl by Margarete Bohme (edited by Thomas Gladysz) for their museum giftshop. If you are looking to check out the book that was the basis for the film, copies can be found there. Their current exhibit, "Berlin Metropolis: 1918-1933" features a work by Rudolph Schlichter, the husband of Speedy Schlichter, who appears in The Diary of a Lost Girl.
There is a swell new book out from Schiffer, Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays: 1920-1970, by Karie Bible and Mary Mallory. Fans of silent film, of early Hollywood, and the studio era will all want to get a copy. At nearly 200 pages, this pictorial is chock-full of images you'll delight in looking at again and again. That's not a cliche, it's just the plain and simple truth.
The book description: "Marvelously illustrated with more than 200 rare images from the silent
era through the 1970s, this joyous treasure trove features film and
television’s most famous actors and actresses celebrating the holidays,
big and small, in lavishly produced photographs. Join the stars for
festive fun in celebrating a variety of holidays, from New Year’s to
Saint Patrick’s Day to Christmas and everything in between. Legends such
as Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland, and Audrey Hepburn
spread holiday cheer throughout the calendar year in iconic, ironic, and
illustrious style. These images, taken by legendary stills
photographers, hearken back to the Golden Age of Hollywood, when motion
picture studios devised elaborate publicity campaigns to promote their
stars and to keep their names and faces in front of the movie-going
public all year round."
Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays: 1920-1970includes Louise Brooks in a Christmas themed pic. The book also includes many of Brooks' contemporaries and co-stars, including Esther Ralston and Clara Bow, shown below on pages featuring Halloween themed pics. The LBS recommends this new book.
About the Authors: Film historian and photo archivist Mary Mallory is the author of Hollywoodland and the eBook Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found. She writes on Los Angeles and film history for the blog The Daily Mirror and serves on the board of Hollywood Heritage. Karie Bible is the official tour guide at Hollywood Forever Cemetery and co-author of Location Filming in Los Angeles. She has lectured at numerous venues, including the RMS Queen Mary and the Homestead Museum, and has appeared on Turner Classic Movies.
One month from today, Its the Old Army Game (1926), starring W.C. Fields and Louise Brooks, screens in NYC at the Museum of Moving Image on Sunday, November 29th. The screening is part of the W.C. Fields in Astoria series. More information about this special event can be found HERE.
With live music by Donald Sosin
Directed by A. Edward Sutherland. 1926. 70 min., 35mm print from the Library
of Congress. With W.C. Fields, Louise Brooks. Fields plays a
misanthropic, small-town pharmacist whose lovely shop assistant (Louise
Brooks) gets him involved in a phony real estate scheme. The film is
regarded as a high point of Fields’s silent filmography. The story was
later revised and revamped in the talkies The Pharmacist (1933) and It’s a Gift (1934).
For more information about the film, check out the Louise Brooks Society filmography page. The film, especially interiors, were shot at Paramount’s Astoria Studios
on Long Island (located at 3412 36th Street in the Astoria neighborhood
in Queens) and in Manhattan. Location shooting, including exteriors,
was done in Ocala and Palm Beach, Florida in February, 1926. The outdoor scenes in Palm Beach were shot at El Mirasol,
the estate of multi-millionaire investment banker Edward T. Stotesbury.
In 1912, after having been a widower for thirty-some years, Stotesbury
remarried and became the stepfather of three children including
Henrietta Louise Cromwell Brooks (known simply as Louise Brooks), an
American socialite and the first wife of General Douglas MacArthur. In
her heyday, she was “considered one of Washington’s most beautiful and
attractive young women”. Because of their names, the two women were
sometimes confused in the press. (Read more about the Palm Beach
location on silentlocations.com.)
Tickets: $12 ($9 for senior citizens and students / free for
members at the Film Lover level and above). Order tickets online.
(Members may contact members@movingimage.us with any questions regarding
online reservations.)
All tickets include same-day admission to the Museum (see gallery hours). View the Museum’s ticketing policy here.
Recently, I have been checking out the "You Must Remember This" podcast hosted by Karina Longworth, a Los Angeles based film critic. It was recommended to me by longtime Louise Brooks Society member Amanda Howard. It's excellent and entertaining, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in classic and contemporary Hollywood, or at least "The secret and/or forgotten histories of Hollywood's first century" as the show bills itself.
What caught Amanda's ear were the couple of references to Louise Brooks in the episode on John Gilbert and Greta Garbo, which was part of a seven part podcast on MGM. Give a listen here.
I recommend checking out the entire MGM series, which contains episodes on Jean Harlow, William Haines, Buster Keaton, Marion Davies and others. Earlier podcasts include episodes on John Wayne, Marlene Dietrich, Charlie Chaplin, Carole Lombard, Orson Welles, Kay Francis, Audrey Hepburn, Theda Bara, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, and other stars of interest to those interested in Louise Brooks and early Hollywood. There are also episodes on Howard Hughes, Frank Sinatra and even a multi-part program on "Charles Manson's Hollywood."
Karina Longworth is the creator / host of You Must Remember This, a
podcast about the secret / forgotten history of Hollywood's first century.
She is the author of books about George Lucas, Al Pacino and Meryl
Streep, and has contributed to LA Weekly, the Guardian, NPR, Vulture,
and other publications. Her most recent book is Hollywood Frame by Frame: The Unseen Silver Screen in Contact Sheets, 1951-1997.
Six American silent-era films that were recently protected at EYE Filmmuseum in
Amsterdam and preserved through a collaborative project
organized by the San Francisco–based National Film Preservation Foundation can now be viewed online.
Among the newly viewable films are the
Fleischer Brothers cartoon Koko’s Queen (1926), a delightful work which echoes the mid-1920's craze for feminine beauty and beauty contests. To watch Koko’s Queen (1926), visit this LINK.
Koko’s Queen was released in October of 1926, some nine months after the release of The American Venus, starring Esther Ralston, Lawrence Gray, Ford Sterling, and Fay Lanphier, the actual 1925 Miss America. The American Venus is a romantic comedyset
against the backdrop of a beauty pageant, namely the actual 1925 Miss
America contest in Atlantic City. The film is the second in which Louise
Brooks appeared, and the first for which she received screen credit. Learn more about this lost film by visiting the Louise Brooks Society filmography page.
According to the National Film Preservation
Foundation website: "The ending of Koko’s Queen is decayed in the Dutch copy—the
only 35mm print thought to exist—but the story shines through. Koko and
his dog Fitz emerge from the pen. When the pair learn that Fleischer’s
girlfriend is a beauty contest competitor, they demand female
companions too. The animator draws one for each but these fall short of
expectations. Koko tries with beauty contraptions to remake his girl
until—giving up—turns her head around backwards and substitutes a mask
for her face. Fitz follows suit with similar results but, with shocking
dream logic, grinds his mate into sausages. Losing patience, Koko draws
his ideal—a beauty so perfect that she becomes human—and accosts her.
The animator drinks “Shrinko” to save the damsel, battling the clown mano a mano. Only returning Koko to the bottle can clean the mess up."
What's interesting is that much of the promotional material around The American Venus reflected the era's obsession with determining and quantifying and even manufacturing beauty -- a conceit carried through to Koko's Queen.
Speaking of Fay Lanphier, the Louise Brooks Society archive recently acquired this uncommon vintage Italian postcard depicting Miss America and her role in the Paramount film, Trionfo di Venere (The American Venus).
American intersex-born, genderqueer performing artist, painter, independent curator, composer, and writer Vaginal Davis will presents Diary of a Lost Girl / Tagebuch Einer Verlorenen at Arsendal in Berlin, Germany today -- Sunday, October 26th at 8:00 pm. More information may be found HERE.
"Vaginal Davis As Bricktop" by dirty filthy socks from Los Angeles, USA - Vaginal Davis As Bricktop(s). Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vaginal_Davis_As_Bricktop.jpg#/media/File:Vaginal_Davis_As_Bricktop.jpg
Here is the event description: "Since 2008, film expert Vaginal Davis has been
inviting audiences to her monthly film evenings. Her anniversaries are
dedicated to actress Louise Brooks, this time round in TAGEBUCH EINER VERLORENEN
(G.W. Pabst, Germay 1929). Thymian exudes a special attraction to men
and falls pregnant. Cast out by her father, robbed of her child, and
tortured at the facility where she lives, she ends up in a brothel. "And
Louise Brooks", as the Berliner Tageblatt put it, "wanders in silent
beauty through the film, scared, defiant, waiting, astonished, much like
the girl to whom everything happens." (stss) (25.10.)"
More information about this 1929 film may be found on the Louise Brooks Society filmography page.
"Louise Brooks As Vaginal Davis" by clean lieder hosen from San Francisco, USA - Louise Brooks As Vaginal Davis. Licensed under CC BY YOU
It's that time, once more. The Library of Congress is now soliciting nominees for their 2016
National Film Registry list. Please take a moment to nominate one or both of these two American silent films, The Show-Off (1926) and Beggars of Life (1928). Each is a fine film, very American, and each star Louise Brooks.
You
can nominate as many films as you like, so why not add a fave Colleen
Moore or Clara Bow film as well. It is easy to do. Just send a simple
email with your nominees
(reasons optional) to filmregistry@loc.gov
Here is my short list:
The Show-Off (1926) Beggars of Life (1928) Love Em and Leave Em (1926) What Price Hollywood? (1932)
More information HERE: Your voice is important! Librarian of Congress Dr.
James H. Billington invites you to submit your recommendations for
movies to be included on the National Film Registry. Public nominations
play a key role when the Librarian and Film Board are considering their
final selections. To be eligible for the Registry, a film must be at
least 10 years old and be “culturally, historically, or aesthetically
significant.”
The National Film Registry historically has included only those
films that were produced or co-produced by an American film company,
typically for theatrical release or recognized as a film through film
festivals or film awards. If in doubt, check the Internet Movie Database
(IMDb) for country of origin. Registry criteria does not specifically
prohibit television programs, commercials, music videos or foreign
productions, however, the original intent of the legislation that
established the Registry was to safeguard U.S. films. Consequently the
National Film Preservation Board and the Librarian of Congress give
first consideration to American motion pictures.
Looking for ideas on possible films to nominate? Check here
for hundreds of titles not yet selected to the National Film Registry.
This link will take you to the complete list of films currently on the
Registry.
For consideration, please forward your recommendations (limit 50 titles per year) via email to: filmregistry@loc.gov.
Please include the date of the film nominated, and number your
recommendations. Listing your nominations in alphabetical order is very
much appreciated, too. There’s no need to include descriptions or
justifications for your nominations unless they’re films that have not
been distributed widely or otherwise made available to the public. For
example, if a film is listed in the Internet Movie Database or the AFI
Catalog of Feature Films, no further information beyond title and date
of release is necessary. Lastly, please tell us how you learned of the
Registry.
Email is preferred; however, to submit via regular mail, send your nominations to:
National Film Registry
Library of Congress
Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation
19053 Mt. Pony Road
Culpeper, VA 22701
Attn: Donna Ross
On October 20th, Kino Lorber released the 1929 Louise Brooks' film Diary of a Lost Girl on DVD and Blu-ray. This new release, featuring the recent reconstruction and restoration of the film, marks its first ever Blu-ray release in North America. These first reviewers have been positive in their assessment of the quality of the film (the way it looks) as well as the bonus material, especially the audio commentary by Louise Brooks Society director Thomas Gladysz. Here is a round-up of reviews in case you need to be convinced to get a copy.
"Diary of a Lost Girl"
by Glenn Erickson, October 5, 2015 (trailersfromhell.com)
-- "G.W. Pabst’s silent German classic is intact, restored and looking great.... Thomas Gladysz’s commentary is thorough and informative."
"Unboxing the Silents: Diary of a Lost Girl (1929) on Blu ray"
Fritzi Kramer, October 10, 2015 (Movies Silently)
-- "... the film looks fantastic overall. This edition offers no alternate scores but it does come with a commentary track from Thomas Gladysz from the Louise Brooks Society."
"DVD Review: Diary of a Lost Girl (1929)"
by James L. Neibaur, October 13, 2015 (examiner.com)
-- "The Kino blu ray is a beautiful high def transfer.... The insightful audio commentary by Thomas Gladysz offers a wealth of fascinating information about the movie and about Ms. Brooks."
"Diary of a Lost Girl (Blu-ray)"
by Matt Hinrichs, October 13, 2015 (DVDtalk)
-- "Diary of a Lost Girl was another torrid, atmospheric collaboration between American actress Louise Brooks and German director G. W. Pabst. The Kino Classics Blu-ray presents the film in a meticulous digital restoration to savor. Recommended.... The disc includes a feature-length Audio Commentary from scholar Thomas Gladysz, director of the long-standing website The Louise Brooks Society. This was a good, informative track revealing lots of interesting tidbits about the production, the lives of the other actors seen on screen, and Brooks' own recollections on the making of the film."
"Diary of a Lost Girl Blu-ray"
Dr. Svet Atanasov, October 16, 2015 (blu-ray.com)
-- "Thomas Gladysz, director of the Louise Brooks Society, discusses the ambiguous nature of Georg Wilhelm Pabst's Diary of a Lost Girl, the film's visual style and its impressionistic aura, the relationships between the main characters, interesting details from the lives and careers of some of the principal actors, etc."
"Garner: Louise Brooks' DVD release"
by Jack Garner, October 17, 2015 (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)
-- "This DVD is the best possible restored version, and is beautiful in its imagery, and in Brooks' performance. This new release also benefits from a well-researched and often-fascinating commentary track by Thomas Gladysz, director of the Louise Brooks Society."
"Diary of a Lost Girl (Kino Lorber, NR)"
by Sarah Boslaugh, October 19 2015 (playback:stl)
-- "Above all, the beauty and skill of Brooks shines through.... The film has been remastered in HD from archival 35mm segments, and comes with three extras: an informative audio commentary by Thomas Gladysz, director of the Louise Brooks Society."
"Kino Classics 2015 Blu-ray Disc edition"
by Carl Bennett, October 20, 2015, (silentera.com)
-- "The results are often excellent, with increased image detail that surpasses our hopes for this edition.... The supplementary material includes a new audio commentary by Thomas Gladysz, director of the Louise Brooks Society."
"October 20: This Week on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD"
by Silas Lesnick, October 20, 2015 (comingsoon.net)
-- "October 20 also sees the release of Kino Lorber‘s new HD take on Georg Wilhelm Pabst then-controversial 1929 film Diary of a Lost Girl, starring silent film icon Louise Brooks."
"This Week In Home Video: 'The Wolfpack,' 'Z For Zachariah,' and More"
by Vikram Murthi, October 20, 2015 (Criticwire)
-- "Kino Lorber has G.W. Pabst's 1929 "Diary of a Lost Girl" starring Louise Brooks as the daughter of a middle class pharmacist who is sent to a repressive home for wayward girls."
"New DVD and Blu-ray releases for October 20, 2015"
by Ryan Painter, October 20, 2015 (FoxReno)
"Kino gives us Diary of a Lost Girl a dark tale of a young woman thrown out of her home when she becomes pregnant starring Louise Brooks and directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst (the duo previously teamed for Pandora's Box)."
"Diary of a Lost Girl"
by Gary Tooze, October 20, 2015 (dvdbeaver.com)
-- "Kino include an audio commentary by Thomas Gladysz, the director of The Louise Brooks Society and imparts plenty of information about the tragic star and the production.... Essential Silent Era film - and another strong package - the commentary addition gives it strong value."
Today, KINO releases Diary of a Lost Girl on Blu-ray and DVD ! Be sure and order your copy.
"The second and final collaboration of actress Louise Brooks and director
G.W. Pabst (Pandora's Box), DIARY OF A LOST GIRL is a provocative
adaptation of Margarethe Böhme's notorious novel, in which the naive
daughter of a middle class pharmacist is seduced by her father's
assistant, only to be disowned and sent to a repressive home for wayward
girls. She escapes, searches for her child, and ends up in a high-class
brothel, only to turn the tables on the society which had abused her.
It's another tour-de-force performance by Brooks, whom silent film
historian Kevin Brownlow calls an 'actress of brilliance, a luminescent
personality and a beauty unparalleled in screen history'."
Special
Features: Mastered in HD from archival 35mm elements, and digitally
restored; Audio commentary by Thomas Gladysz, Director, Louise Brooks
Society; and includes the short Windy Riley Goes Hollywood (1931, 18 Min., featuring Louise
Brooks).
