Some Polish movie posters from the 1920s and 1930s, part 1

I love looking around digital databases. And if those databases are located in other countries, all the better.

Recently, I returned to Polona, a digital archive from Poland which features Polish books, magazines, newspapers, and ephemera - such as movie posters. Except for the first poster shown in the first post, a 1939 poster for When You're in Love (1937), and the last poster in the last post, a 1932 poster for Prix de beaute (1930), I didn't find any other posters related to Louise Brooks career, but I did find a number of rather attractive posters promoting American films of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. (Most of the posters in this digital collection date from the 1930s, when Brooks' career was in sharp decline and her films were seldom shown in Europe.)

Interestingly, these posters are predominately typographical in design, with very few images. The best of them play with design, varying the size, color, orientation and type of font displayed. There are more than 1700 posters. Here are a few that caught my eye due to their design or the film or stars featured. Tomorrow's post will feature even more posters.

Louise Brooks had an uncredited part in When You're in Love

   

with Pandora's Box star Fritz Kortner!

a nice example of shaped text

an example of colored text

that's Bette Davis in Jezebel

and that's Renée Adorée, I think. But I can't figure out the title of the film

with Anna May Wong

Not a movie poster: "The Capital Labor Election Committee convenes on Sunday, October 26, at 11 am
in the 'Pola Negri Palace' cinema hall Pl. Theatrical pre-election meeting"

Denver Silent Film Festival April 28 - 30

This year's annual Denver Silent Film Festival is set to take place April 28, 29, 30 in Denver, Colorado - of all places! This year's line-up of films has not yet been set, but what is known can be found below. Otherwise, find out more about the 7th annual event HERE.

The 7th Denver Silent Film Festival will open on Friday evening, April 27, 2018 with the 1927 CHICAGO. The movie tells a lurid story, based on actual events, of boozy flapper Roxy Hart (Phyllis Haver) on trial for killing her gangster lover (Eugene Pallette), and defended by her (temporarily) moral husband and a thoroughly dishonest lawyer.  It's a corrupt world -- and a delicious film. (I've seen it, and it's true, it is a riotously enjoyable movies.)

The 2018 David Shepard Career Achievement Award Recipient

The Denver Silent Film Festival's David Shepard Career Achievement Award for 2018 will go to Russell Merritt, who teaches film studies at the University of California-Berkeley. Russell Merritt has co-written (with J.B. Kaufman) two books on Walt Disney’s early films – the award-winning Walt in Wonderland (1993) and Walt Disney’s Silly Symphonies (2016). He has also authored articles on D.W. Griffith, Sergei Eisenstein, animation, Sherlock Holmes, color aesthetics, and early film.  Merritt produces and directs the Great Nickelodeon Show, a recreation of a turn-of-the-century nickelodeon program which has played at the Telluride Film Festival, The TCM Classic Film Festival, Il Giornate del Cinema Muto, the Los Angeles Film Festival, The Pacific Film Archive, and assorted university campuses. (I'm acquainted with Russell Merritt. He is a fine fellow, and a bit of a Louise Brooks fan to boot.)

Dance With Me. Nouvelle Vague, Louise Brooks & Anna Karina

Here is something cool I found on YouTube, the song "Dance With Me" by Nouvelle Vague put to video clips of GW Pabst's Tagebuch einer Verlorenen or Diary of a Lost Girl (1929) and Jean-Luc Godard's Bande à part or Band of Outsiders (1964).

And for fun, here is an another video remix of the Nouvelle Vague song and actress Anna Karina in Godard's film. As Brooks' devotees know, Karina has long been associated with Brooks. There are other video remixes of the Nouvelle Vague song out there as well. These two caught my attention.

Crowdsource question: Help identify the Tango artist in the Louise Brooks' film Prix de beaute

Can you help identify the musical artist/band seen in the Louise Brooks' film Prix de beaute (1930). They are shown in this brief film clip, with the small musical group entering the scene around the 50 second mark.

Louise Brooks seminar at Kansas State University on Feb 24

Announcing an important event: "Spotlighting Louise Brooks: From the Kansas Prairie to the German Silver Screen"

The German Program in the Department of Modern Languages is proud to present: "Spotlighting Louise Brooks: From the Kansas Prairie to the German Silver Screen" on Saturday, February 24th, from 10am-4pm.

This event is free, open to all, and appropriate for all ages. It will take place on the K-State campus in Justin Hall, room 109. Free parking is available in the lot behind the building.

Throughout the day, participants will examine the unique role Louise Brooks, a silent film star and native Kansan, had in shaping ideas about women’s roles in society through her work in silent film, particularly in Weimar Germany in the 1920s and 1930s.

 Please contact Nichole Neuman (nneuman@ksu.edu) with any questions. Principal funding for this program is provided by the Kansas Humanities Council, a nonprofit cultural organization connecting communities with history, traditions, and ideas to strengthen civic life. Additional funding provided by DOW Center for Multicultural and Community Studies at K-State Libraries.

 Event schedule:

    10:00-10:45: Welcome and presentation of silent student films

    11:00-1:30: Diary of a Lost Girl (GW Pabst, 1929) with live accompaniment by Matthew De Gennaro and a reception with light hors d'oeuvres to follow

    1:30-2:15: Moderated panel 2:30-4:00: Talk and Q+A session with Dr. Richard McCormick (University of Minnesota)

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Want to  learn more about Louise Brooks and Diary of a Lost Girl? Check out this 2010 Louise Brooks Society publication, the "Louise Brooks edition" of The Diary of a Lost Girl, available wherever fine books are sold. Not long after this book was published, noted UK scholar Elizabeth Boa (University of Nottingham) said "It was such a pleasure to come upon your well documented and beautifully presented edition. "

News about Pamela Hutchinson's Book on the Louise Brooks' Film, Pandora's Box

Speaking of Pandora's Box (see yesterday's post about the film's upcoming showing in Paris, which we were alerted to by the one-and-only Pamela Hutchinson).... there is a new book out on the film from BFI Film Classics. The book, by the same Pamela Hutchinson, is highly recommended.

I read it and loved it. This book is smart, detailed, incisive, and gracefully written. And at 106 pages, it is a quick, enjoyable read. And a must have for every Louise Brooks devotee, not to mention anyone interested in early German film.

If you haven't already gotten a copy, do so today. Follow THIS LINK to order a copy. And after you've read it, be sure and leave a review. That's important in getting the word out about the things we care about: authors, silent film, and anything to do with Louise Brooks needs your support. (If you can't afford a copy, why not ask your local library to acquire a copy. Many local libraries have "suggest a purchase" forms.)

If you hang out on the silent film and Louise Brooks groups on Facebook, then you may recognize the author's name. She is the Editor of Silent London, and writes on early and silent film for the Guardian newspaper and Sight & Sound. The book has been in the news of late. Sight & Sound ran a great review of the book in its February 2018 issue by David Thompson, who called Hutchinson's book a

highly sympathetic and well researched book … a welcome and long overdue addition to the BFI Film Classics series … particularly valuable in detailing the origins of the film, how it came to be made at all and the striking personalities involved …

As this book makes very clear, rarely has the blurring of a screen role and real life been so fruitful for a creator and so tantalising for the audience.

Pamela was also a recent guest on the Nitrateville Radio podcast. She chatted about Pandora's Box, both the film and her new book. It is well worth listening to. Check it out below.



Have you ordered your copy? The book is available on amazon UK, USA and around the world) as well as where ever better books are sold.