Saturday, October 7, 2017

Video from Italy: Louise Brooks and Now We're in the Air

Check out this short (about 3 and 1/2 minute) video from the Pordenone Silent Film Festival in Italy, which contains a bit of footage from the previously lost 1927 Louise Brooks film, Now We're in the Air, which showed at the Festival on October 2. The individual seen in the video is Festival director Jay Weissberg.



Further information about this screening can be found HERE. And, don't fail to read Jay Weissberg's program essay on the film, which can be found HERE.

Friday, October 6, 2017

Louise Brooks Society on Twitter @LB_Society

The Louise Brooks Society is on Twitter @LB_Society. In fact, the LBS is followed by more than 4,640 interested individuals. Are you one of them? Sign up to get the latest news. And, be sure and check out the LBS Twitter profile and the more than 5,220 LBS tweets so far!


Louise Brooks ✪

@LB_Society

Louise Brooks Society - all about the silent film & Jazz Age icon who played
Lulu in Pandora's Box. Visit our website, blog & online radio station!

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Talking about Louise Brooks: An Irish podcast

Listen-up!  Any Ladle's Sweet is a podcast (out of Ireland) which I came across on SoundCloud. The show is a monthly film podcast discussing early and golden era Hollywood stories and themes focusing on the women who designed / acted / directed / wrote during this era. To date, there have been episodes devoted to Mary Astor, Carole Lombard, Joan Bennett, Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanywck, Joan Blondell and Ginger Rodgers, and others.

The hosts of Any Ladle's Sweet are Megan McGurk and Danielle Smith. Their podcast can also be heard on iTunes. They also have a Facebook page.



The 20th episode of the hour-long, Dublin-based program is titled, "Louise Brooks - Naked on Her Goat." I listened to it and enjoyed it. It is thoughtful and insightful. I recommend it, and recommend you listen to it as well.



By the way,  Megan McGurkis also the author of a book titled Sass Mouth Dames: 30 Essential Women’s Pictures 1929-1939. "When Hollywood made films for women, known by studio executives and the people who made them as ‘woman’s pictures’, viewers could reliably find a female point of view in the cinema. Films made for women covered a wide range of topics from sex, employment, social mobility, female rivalry, and above all, the importance of friendship with other women as a ballast for life in a man’s world. Sass Mouth Dames presents 30 superior films from 1929-1939 as a reminder that women in the movies did not always play second fiddle to the leading man. Women were once the star attraction, billed above the man with brilliantined hair. Women such as Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Blondell and Irene Dunne drew women and men to the cinema see their latest challenge or adventure. Sass Mouth Dames celebrates extraordinary films that maintain their relevance for contemporary audiences. Films discussed include well known classics such as Gold Diggers of 1933, Baby Face, Stage Door, The Women and Love Affair as well as lesser-known gems such as Ladies of Leisure, Merrily We Go to Hell, Private Worlds, Heat Lightning and Havana Widows. Sass Mouth Dames highlights exceptional performances, storytelling, and design.


Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Haley Lu Richardson on set as Louise Brooks in The Chaperone

As fans of Louise Brooks are likely well aware, Laura Moriarty's splendid 2012 novel, The Chaperone, has been made into a film with an expected release date in 2018. Set in the early 1920's, the film tells the story of Louise Brooks' journey from Kansas to New York City accompanied by a chaperone. The film, produced by PBS Masterpiece, is set to star Elizabeth McGovern as the chaperone and Haley Lu Richardson as Louise Brooks. The Chaperone has been scripted by Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey) and directed by Michael Engler. It will air on PBS stations nationwide after its initial theatrical run.

More information about the production can be found HERE. A full listing of the cast can be found on IMDb HERE.

Recently, a handful of images of Haley Lu Richardson as Louise Brooks turned up on  HALEYLURICHARDSON.NET, a "fansite made by fans for fans in no way affiliated with Haley Lu, her family, friends or management." These unattributed images, taken on the set on August 8, 2017, are our first glimpse of the actress who plays Brooks. The entire set can be found HERE.


Tuesday, October 3, 2017

More of Louise Brooks from Pordenone, Italy

Rob Byrne sent me this snapshot of a recent Louise Brooks Society blog posted on the bulletin board (along with other media coverage) at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival in Italy. This made my day.


And here are a few more nifty images, gathered from the Pordenone /  Le Giornate del Cinema Muto website and Facebook wall. (photos by Valerio Greco). [And while you are visiting the Pordenone website, don't fail to read Jay Weissberg's program essay on the film, which can be found HERE.]







Speaking of media coverage of the Festival, check out the following blogs and news articles -- all of which make mention of Louise Brooks and Now We're in the Air:

Il Fruili ran a piece titled "Cinema muto: oggi è la giornata di Louise Brooks: A Pordenone, l’anteprima del frammento ritrovato di ‘Now we’re in the air’ del 1927"

The communist newspaper Il Manifesto also ran a piece, this one was titled "Scomode e indisciplinate, le «cattive ragazze» del muto" which stated (in rough translation) "...rediscovered by historian Robert Byrne, president of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, who found them in the Prague archive. Precious because they include the magnificent and charismatic presence of one of the most iconic stars of all movie history: Louise Brooks, with her unmistakable haircut (inspired by Crepax's Valentine) and a breathtaking black tutu. Its image resists time, always modern."

Another Italian newspaper, Il Picolo, ran a piece titled "Louise Brooks, frammenti di divina

Luce Cinecitta ran a piece titled "Louise Brooks, prima di Lulù"

Attendee Pamela Hutchinson, author of a forthcoming book on Pandora's Box, posted a piece to the Silent London site which started "Louise Brooks is everywhere this year, not least here at the Giornate, where she adorns tote bags, mugs, programmes, T-shirts and even the festival office."

And the blog I Thank You Arthur also posted on the event.


Monday, October 2, 2017

Now We're in the Air, the story behind the Louise Brooks film and its finding

In celebration of today's showing of Now We're in the Air at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival in Italy, here is a reprise of my March 30th Huffington Post article about the film and its finding. Further information about this special screening can be found HERE. Also, don't fail to read Jay Weissberg's program essay on the film, which can be found HERE. (It mentions the LBS.) And for those who can't get enough, HERE are my program notes for the San Francisco Silent Film Festival.

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Long Missing Louise Brooks Film Found
by Thomas Gladysz (3/30/2017)


Approximately 23 minutes of a long missing 1927 Louise Brooks film, Now We’re in the Air, has been found in an archive in the Czech Republic. The discovery is significant, not only because of Brooks’ widespread popularity, but because it helps fill a gap in the legendary actress’ body of work. Until now, each of the four films Brooks made in 1927—at the peak of her American career—have been considered lost.

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival revealed the existence of the film while announcing the lineup of works to be shown at its upcoming event. The newly restored partial film will be shown at the Festival, which is set to take place June 1 through June 4 at the Castro Theater in San Francisco.
Now We’re in the Air will be paired with Get Your Man (1927), a Dorothy Arzner directed film starring Clara Bow. The Library of Congress has reconstructed Get Your Man from recovered materials, filling in missing sequences with stills and intertitles. Festival Executive Director Stacey Wisnia noted that the pairing brings together not only two recovered films, but also the era’s two “It” girls, Bow and Brooks.

The discovery of Now We’re in the Air came about, in part, through the efforts of film preservationist Robert Byrne, president of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Byrne has made a name for himself of late, having helped in the recovery and restoration of a handful of important films over the last few years. Prominent among his discoveries were two films identified in the collection of Cinematheque Francaise, Sherlock Holmes (1916), and Silence (1926). The latter, a Cecil B. DeMille production directed by Rupert Julian, will also debut at the June event. Another of Byrne’s efforts, Behind the Door (1919), is due out on DVD / Blu-ray from Flicker Alley.

In a recent interview, Byrne related how he mentioned to English film historian and Academy Award honoree Kevin Brownlow that he would be going to Prague to visit the Czech Národní filmový archiv (the Czech Republic’s National Film Archive). It’s known they have an extensive collection of silent era material, including the only remaining nitrate copies of a number of American silent films. Unsure as to what might be found, Brownlow provided Byrne with a list of about a dozen titles he should ask to see. That list included Now We’re in the Air. Though popular in its time, the 1927 film is little known today except for the fact it includes Brooks in an important supporting role.



When Byrne inspected the elements for Rif a Raf, Piloti (the Czech title for Now We’re in the Air), he found the film had only partially survived in a state which also showed nitrate decomposition. Additionally, the surviving scenes were found to be out of order, and there were Czech-language titles in place of the original American titles. Byrne spent more than eight months reconstructing the surviving material, including restoring the film’s original English-language inter-titles and original tinting.

“As is often the case, the most challenging aspect was not the technical work of cleaning up the image,” Byrne stated, “but rather the research that ensured we were making a faithful restoration, especially when it came to replacing the Czech language inter-titles with the original English versions.”

Byrne was especially appreciative of the help given by the Národní filmový archive. “They were incredibly gracious and generous with their time and resources; in addition to granting access to their nitrate print, they are responsible for the color-dye tinting of our new 35mm print. This is the first San Francisco Silent Film Festival restoration where we have used the traditional dye-tinting process to restore a film’s original color. In prior projects, we have used a modern method that utilizes color film stock.” Byrne added, “This is what an American audience would have seen when the film was released in 1927.”

Byrne said he was “thrilled” to find a missing Brooks film. “The shame is that so many of her American films are lost. Seeing Now We’re in the Air projected for the first time was pretty amazing. I have seen stills of her in the black tutu a million times, but actually seeing the sequence where she is wearing it was like watching a still photograph magically come to life.” Byrne’s excitement for the newly found Brooks’ film was matched by Judy Wyler Sheldon, a longtime Brooks’ fan and the daughter of legendary director William Wyler. Festival Artistic Director Anita Monga was likewise excited, and thought the fragment was “revelatory.”

Directed by Frank Strayer, Now We’re in the Air is a World War One comedy starring future Oscar winner Wallace Beery and the once popular character actor Raymond Hatton. The film, released by Paramount, also features Brooks in two supporting roles. The actress plays twins, one raised French, one raised German, who are the love interest of two goofy fliers. The surviving footage of Brooks only includes her in the role of the French twin, a carnival worker dressed in a short, dark tutu.





Raymond Hatton, Louise Brooks, Wallace Beery

In the 1920s, Beery and Hatton were teamed in a number of popular Dumb and Dumber-like comedies. With its aviation-theme, Now We’re in the Air was one of the pair’s “service comedies,” following similar themed movies like Behind the Front (1926) and We’re in the Navy Now (1926).

Notably, the film’s cinematographer is Harry Perry, who worked on two other significant aviation pictures, Wings (1927), and Hell’s Angels (1930). Perry was nominated for an Academy Award for his work on the latter. Interestingly, a notation in the script for Now We’re in the Air uncovered during its restoration calls for the use of left-over footage from the William Wellman-directed Wings, another WWI movie, and the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. That footage can be seen during the Armistice scene in Now We’re in the Air, near the end of the surviving footage.

Though some winced at its crude humor (not evident in the surviving material), the Beery-Hatton film proved to be one of the more popular comedies of 1927. 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 year’s biggest hits. At a time when most new releases played only one week, Now We’re in the Air ran for a month in San Francisco, according to local newspaper listings. In Boston, the film also did well, opening simultaneously in five theaters. At the time, the Boston Evening Transcript noted the audience at one screening “was so moved by mirth that they were close to tears.”

The recovery of Now We’re in the Air comes 90 years after its first release, and 100 years after the United States formally entered what became known as the First World War, on April 6, 1917. Though a comedy, Now We’re in the Air was one of a number of silent films from the time—including Behind the Door (1919), The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), The Big Parade (1925), What Price Glory? (1926), and Wings (1927), which depict the international conflict.

Byrne and others involved in the restoration of Now We’re in the Air believe the surviving footage lives up to the promise of its original reviews. In June, Festival goers and Louise Brooks fans will have the chance to see for themselves. More about the lineup of films at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival can be found at www.silentfilm.org.

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My wife and I had a small hand in helping bring this film back to the screen, and we and the Louise Brooks Society are thanked in the credits which follow the restored fragment. It was an honor and a pleasure to be asked to help work on the project. It was also exciting! I got to see raw footage of the surviving material (still with Czech intertitles), and helped put the fragmented pieces back into proper order and with correct English-language intertitles. The story of this film will be told in a new book, which is forthcoming later this year.



After the above article was published and before the film debuted in San Francisco, I was given a Louise Brooks / Now We're in the Air giphoscope to honor my contribution to bringing this once lost film back into circulation -- 90 years after it was first shown.


What's a giphoscope? Simply put, it's an analog GIF player. And this model displays a 24 frame animated GIF excerpted from Now We're in the Air. Only a few copies of these handmade, Italian objects were produced.  Here is one in action, followed by a snapshot of Robert Byrne and myself (right) holding my player.



Sunday, October 1, 2017

Now We're in the Air -- snapshots of Louise Brooks from Pordenone, Italy

As Louise Brooks fans hopefully know by now,  the once lost 1927 Brooks' film Now We're in the Air has been found -- or at least 23 minutes of it. That surviving material was restored by film preservationist Robert Byrne (with the assistance of Thomas Gladysz / Louise Brooks Society), and will be shown tomorrow, Monday October 2, at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival in Italy. Live piano accompaniment will be given by John Sweeney.

Further information about this special screening can be found HERE. Also, don't fail to read Jay Weissberg's program essay on the film, which can be found HERE. (It mentions the LBS.)




Excitement is building at the Festival, and a few snapshots have been sent to me evidencing Louise Brooks "presence" at the event. Pamela Hutchinson (author of the forthcoming book on Pandora's Box from the BFI) sent this snapshot of the book / merchandise table, where copies of my new book, Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film are on sale next to some rather nifty Pordenone mugs.

And that's not the only Louise Brooks merchandise from this year's Pordenone Silent Film Festival (also known as the Giornate del Cinema Muto.) Rob Byrne, who sent the above image of the information table with the Louise Brooks background, also sent me this image of the Festival tote bag, which is also pretty nifty.


I have heard from Jordon Young that Louise Brooks also appears on the cover of the program, which I have yet to see. (The programs were late to arrive to the Festival because the schedule was onbly closed a few days ago.) I wish I could have been there. To close this entry, I'll add this image of a poster for the Festival. As best I know, this was not printed, but can be found floating around online.

p.s. Check out this Italian article, "Louise Brooks, la divina: un inedito alle Giornate del Cinema Muto di Pordenone," about Louise Brooks and the Festival.
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