As you should know by now, a chunk (a technical terms meaning partial) of the 1927 Louise Brooks film
Now We're in the Air has been found in Prague at the Czech Republic’s Národní filmový archive (National Film Archive). The restored, 23 minute fragment will be shown June 2 at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Read more about it
HERE on the Huffington Post.
In the meantime, here is a little background on the film....
Now We’re in the Air is a comedy
about two
fliers (a pair of “aero-nuts” also called “looney Lindberghs”) who wander on
to a World War I battle field near the front lines. The film was one of a
number of aviation-themed stories shot in 1927 (following Lindbergh’s
historic solo flight across the Atlantic), as well as one in a popular
series of “service comedies” pairing Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatton.
Louise Brooks plays the unusual role of twin sisters, one raised French
and one raised German, named Griselle & Grisette, who are the love
interest of the two fliers.
Arguably,
Now We’re in the Air was the most popular American
silent in which Brooks appeared. Generally liked by the critics, the
film did big box office where ever it showed. In New York City, it
enjoyed an extended run, as it did in San Francisco, where it proved to
be one of the biggest hits of the year. At a time when most new
releases played only one week,
Now We’re in the Air ran for
more than a month in San Francisco, where it was extended due to robust
ticket sales. In Boston, it also did well, opening simultaneously in
five theaters in the area. The
Boston Evening Transcript noted,
“most of the audience at the Washington Street Olympia this week were
so moved by mirth that they were close to tears. Presumably the
experience has been the same at the Scollay Square Olympia, the Fenway,
the Capitol in Allston and the Central Square in Cambridge.” Newspapers
in other large cities like Atlanta, Georgia and St. Louis, Missouri
reported a similar reception.
The
New Orleans Item noted, “The added feature of
Now We’re in the Air
is the presence of Louise Brooks as the heroine. One of the cleverest
of the new stars, she has immense ability to appear ‘dumb’ but like
those early Nineteenth Century actresses, commended by Chas. Lamb, she
makes the spectators realize that she is only playing at being dumb.”
Radie Harris of the New York
Morning Telegraph wrote
, “Louise
Brooks is seen as the feminine lead. She essays the role of twins.
Which, if you know Louise, is mighty satisfactory. She is decorative
enough to admire once, but when you are allowed the privilege of seeing
her double, the effect is devastating.” The
Boston Post added,
“You see there are pretty twin sisters, Grisette and Griselle, both
played by the fetching Louise Brooks, who marry Wally and Ray, who
cannot tell their wives apart except by their dogs, one a poodle, one a
daschund.”
The dual role played by Brooks made the film for many critics. Curran D. Swint of the
San Francisco News
stated, “Both the hulking and ungainly Beery and the cocky little
Hatton give goofingly good accounts of themselves. Then there is Louise
Brooks. She’s the girl — or the girls — in the case, for Louise is twins
in the story, and about this fact much of the comedy is woven.” Across
town, A. F. Gillaspey of the
San Francisco Bulletin added,
“Louise Brooks is the leading woman of this picture. She appears as the
twin sisters. This results in some remarkable and very interesting
double exposures.”
Mae Tinee, the
Chicago Tribune critic who seemed to always
champion Brooks, put it this way, “Louise Brooks as twins, is — are — a
beautiful foil for the stars and if you think she doesn’t marry both of
them before the picture ends, why, cogitate again, my darlings.”