Thursday, August 20, 2015

The LBS recommends these film / film history links

I've been working on rebuilding the Louise Brooks Society website, in particular one of its oldest pages, "Lulu in Cyberspace".  It is a page of links to other Louise Brooks sites and pages as well as recommended links to other silent film, movie history and Jazz Age material.

Here are some recommended film / film history links. Happy exploring:

CineGraph (Germany)
Cinema Context (The Netherlands)
Cinema Treasures (theaters)
Classic Images (magazine)
Domitor (intl society for the study of early cinema)
Media History Digital Library (vintage magazines)
NitrateVille (message boards)
Photoplay Productions (Kevin Brownlow)
Pre-Code Hollywood (Facebook)
Screen Deco (Facebook)
by Thomas Gladysz / No comments:

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Mary & Louise - a new short film about Mary Pickford and Louise Brooks

Mary and Louise is a 20-minute film about about finding your voice that features characters based on Mary Pickford and Louise Brooks.

The premise is simple, and poetic. After each fail miserably on the set of their first "talkie", the two silent film stars vow never to speak again. Out of work and past their prime, they become roommates in Brooklyn. Mary and Louise is a fantasy and a comedy with dark undertones which explores the ups and down of friendship and the importance of finding one's voice amid the din of great personal and technological change.

Directed by Abigail Zealey Bess and written by Amy Staats (the actress who plays Pickford), the film is now on the festival circuit. It was screened at the Cayman International and Maine International Film Festivals this summer. Last year, it won the Britt Penrod Award for best trailer.

As can be seen in the video clip below, characters based on Marlene Dietrich, Rudolph Valentino, W.C. Fields, Gloria Swanson, Jean Harlow, Nosferatu, and Charlie Chaplin also figure in the film. I for one am looking forward to seeing the entire film.


by Thomas Gladysz / No comments:

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

The LBS recommends these silent film era links

I've been working on rebuilding the Louise Brooks Society website, in particular one of its oldest pages, "Lulu in Cyberspace".  It is a page of links to other Louise Brooks sites and pages as well as recommended links to other silent film, movie history and Jazz Age material.

Here are some recommended silent film era links. Happy exploring:

Anna May Wong (documentary)
Arbucklemania (Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle)
Blog Chaplin (from Brazil)
Charlie Chaplin (official)
Greta Garbo (official)
Harold Lloyd (official)
Lillian Gish (official)
Marlene Dietrich (official)
Silent Film Group (Facebook)
Silent Squadron (serials)
Silent Treatment (newsletter)
Taylorology (William Desmond Taylor)
by Thomas Gladysz / No comments:

Monday, August 17, 2015

Pandora's Box screened this weekend in Miami, Florida

We missed it. Pandora's Box screened this past weekend in Miami, Floria as part of the Bal Harbour Shops’ Fashion Project celebrating the intersection between fashion and film with “Dressing Down the Movies,” a free retrospective of 24 classic films ranging from the silent era to the present day. The retrospective runs August 15  through September 30.

According to an article in the Miami Herald, "The selection ranges from 1929’s Pandora’s Box, in which actress Louise Brooks popularized (and immortalized) women’s bob hairstyle, to 1994’s Ready to Wear, director Robert Altman’s comical takedown of haute couture."


SATURDAY, AUGUST 15 2:30PM & 7PM
SUNDAY, AUGUST 16 3PM
Pandora’s Box

"What else could Louise Brooks possibly play other than a seductive, thoughtless young woman whose raw sensuality and uninhibited nature bring ruin to herself  and those who love her? “When you meet someone like this in life, you’re attracted,” wrote an admiring Roger Ebert, “but you know in your gut she’ll be nothing but trouble.” Pandora’s Box’s impact on fashion is timeless. The Brooks bob is as iconic as the tank dress she slinks around in, courtesy of  Jean Patou. 1929, directed by G. W. Pabst from the play by Frank Wedekind. With Louise Brooks."

As much as we appreciate their enthusiasm, they get details wrong. Brooks wore a Patou dress in Prix de Beaute, not Pandora's Box. More information about the festival can be found HERE.
by Thomas Gladysz / No comments:

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Louise Brooks in China, part 4

Here is a document I came across while deep mining databases in search of additional material on Louise Brooks and China. It is a 30-page essay titled "Flapper and Femme Fatale In Chinese Mirror: An Intercultural Study of Star Discourse in the 1930s Hollywood and Chinese Industries" by Katherine Hui-ling Chou. I believe the essay dates from 2001. It can be read in Chinese by following this link.

The essay including a long section on Louise Brooks, which begins this way.


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Saturday, August 15, 2015

Louise Brooks in China, part 3

My research trip to look through old newspapers also turned up a couple of excellent finds from China -- in Chinese. One was a feature photo, the other a bit about The Canary Murder Case. I also found a similar page on Pandora's Box and another of The Street of Forgotten Men. The photo shown below says it was taken in Hollywood at Brook's home while she was having lunch with her sister.

 
Can anyone translate the text on either of these pages? And tell me if the page featuring the image from The Canary Murder Case (shown below) is about the film itself?



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Friday, August 14, 2015

Notes from yesterday's research: Finland

Yesterday, I happily spent more than 5 hours looking through microfilm of old newspapers. My search through some rolls of Russian and Ukrainian newspapers was unproductive. I couldn't find any advertisements or indicators that the papers I looked through carried film advertisements.

My search through a Finnish newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, was also unproductive, but not without promise. When I have time, I will try and continue my look through Helsingin Sanomat from the 1920s and early 1930s, because the three pages shown below suggest the search will eventually turn up something. Where there is smoke (other advertisements for silent films), there is fire (advertisements for Louise Brooks' films).

It's easy to notice the ads for Vilma Banky, Colleen Moore, Richard Dix, Harold Lloyd, Clara Bow, Billie Dove and others.





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