Wednesday, June 30, 2010

L'Actrice Degeneree

While looking around the DailyMotion website, I came across another short French film which is a kind of homage to Louise Brooks. It's called L'Actrice Dégénérée, and it's by Laure Springer. It is a recent work, though I am not sure from when exactly.

Its story focuses on Samuel and Julian, two journalists. Samuel is attempting to write an article on Louise Brooks, but Julien is unable to understand his fascination with the actress.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Article about Loving Louise Brooks

I posted an article about the new short film, Loving Louise Brooks, over at examiner.com It’s a very true film well worth watching. Loving Louise Brooks is an 11 minute work which speaks not only to the vagaries of young love, but also to cinematic obsession – and the times when those forces collide. Check out my article at http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-48577-Louise-Brooks-Examiner~y2010m6d29-New-short-film-homage-to-Louise-Brooks
 

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Loving Louise Brooks

I just came across this short film on Daily Motion. It's called Loving Louise Brooks. It is a wordless sound film, in effect a silent film. It is really good. I believe it was made in France. Check it out.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Remembering Daisy D'Ora

Daisy D'Ora was what one would call a personality. She was a free spirit. I wrote an article about her which I posted to my Louise Brooks column on examiner.com. Please check it out.

D’Ora was discovered at the age of 15 by director G.W. Pabst, who noticed her in a cosmetics advertisement. In the ad, according to one article, she was dressed in her confirmation dress (a la Thymain in Diary of a Lost Girl). 

Pabst cast her in a small role in Pandora's Box, her first film. She was only 16 years old when it debuted in Berlin in February, 1929. After that, she appeared in only a few more films in 1929 and 1930.

In 1931, she was selected "Miss Germany," and was a contestant in that's year's international beauty pageant in Galveston, Texas. She placed fourth. She was not, as far I can tell, ever named "Miss Europe" (a la Prix de Beaute), as is claimed on some web pages. (There was such a contest in Europe in the 1930's.)

[This German newspaper obituary has a remarkable photo of D'Ora standing next to a painting of herself as a young woman.]

Friday, June 25, 2010

Daisy D'Ora (1913-2010)

Daisy D'Ora, a German actress whose brief career included a role as Charlotte Marie Adelaide in the 1929 Louise Brooks' film Pandora's Box, has died. D'Ora was one of the last surviving German actresses of the silent era. D'Ora, born February 2, 1913, died on June 19, 2010.

Daisy D'Ora was a baroness named Daisy, Baroness von Freyberg. Because it was thought improper in her circle in those days to work in show business, she acquired a stage name. At the end of the 20's, she had appeared in a few silent movies.

The famous writer Erich Maria Remarque persuaded her to take part in a beauty contest in Germany. She won and as a result she was sent to Miami for the Miss Universe contest. The famous vocal group, Comedian Harmonists, sang of her beauty in later years.

Here she is, as depicted in Pandora's Box. She played Dr. Schon's fiance, and it is her and Schon's son (played by Francis Lederer) who discover Brooks and Dr. Schon (played by Fritz Kortner) in an compromising position backstage. The hands that hold the picture are those of Lousie Brooks.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Six reasons to attend the SF Silent Film Festival

If you’re a fan of Louise Brooks and have been thinking about attending the upcoming San Francisco Silent Film Festival, and need a few reasons to encourage you to purchase a ticket – then here are six. Each, on its own, is reason enough IMHO.

1) The Festival, which is putting on its 15th annual event this July, will screen one of Louise Brooks’ best films, Diary of a Lost Girl. As the "Founder’s Pick" film, this 1929 German movie has been designated the centerpiece work at this year’s event. It will be shown with live musical accompaniment provided by the outstanding Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.

According to the world renowned British film historian Kevin Brownlow, the collaboration between director G.W. Pabst and actress Louise Brooks helped establish Brooks as an “actress of brilliance, a luminescent personality and a beauty unparalleled in screen history.” I think we would all agree.

2) Kevin Brownlow will be in attendance. If you know Brooks’ life story (or you’ve read Barry Paris’ outstanding biography), then you’re aware of the importance of this film historian in the revival of interest in the actress.

Let's put it this way: there is no more important film historian in the history of silent film. And, there is no more important book than Brownlow’s classic 1969 study, The Parade’s Gone By (University of California press). Interestingly, Brownlow's book carries this acknowledgment, “I owe an especial debt to Louise Brooks for acting as a prime mover in this book’s publication.”

This film historian lives in England, and doesn’t make all that many appearances in the United States. Brownlow will be signing books twice over the course of the Festival, as well as introducing a couple of films. Bring your copy of The Parade’s Gone By and get is signed. Or buy a copy at the Festival and get it signed. (Brownlow's book and the other books mentioned in this post will all be on sale at the Festival.) And don’t miss this opportunity to meet the man.

3) Another author who knew the actress will also be in attendance. Ira Resnick, a longtime collector and the founder of the Motion Picture Arts Gallery in New York City (the first gallery devoted exclusively to the art of the movies) will be signing copies of his superb new book, Starstruck: Vintage Movie Posters from Classic Hollywood (Abbeville).

This book features posters and lobby cards of many silent films including a handful of Brooks’ films, and notably a one-of-a-kind poster for Diary of a Lost Girl (pictured left) for which the author once paid the near record setting sum of $60,000. Another illustration in the book is inscribed to Resnick from Brooks.

Resnick will  be signing books following the July 17th screening of Diary of a Lost Girl.

4) Also signing books following Diary of a Lost Girl will be Hollywood screenwriter Samuel Bernstein, whose Lulu: A Novel, has recently been published by Walford Press. The subject of this “non-fiction” novel is Louise Brooks and the period in her life when she went to work with Pabst in Germany. It’s an enjoyable read, and the latest in a shelf worth of worthwhile works of fiction which have taken the silent film star as its muse.

Bernstein, who lives in Los Angeles, will be signing books following the July 17th screening of Diary of a Lost Girl.

5) The San Francisco Silent Film Festival takes place at the historic Castro Theater. Built in 1922, this grand theater is one of the last standing movie palaces in the San Francisco Bay Area. And what’s more, no theater in San Francisco can claim to have shown more Brooks films.

As a neighborhood movie theater in the 1920’s and 1930’s, the Castro screened just about every Brooks’ film back then. And beginning with the late 1970’s revival of interest in Brooks, the Castro has regularly shown the actress’ surviving works. The two Pabst films, along with A Girl in Every Port (1928), Beggars of Life (1928), Prix de Beaute (1930) and the remaining fragments of The American Venus (1926) and Just Another Blonde (1926) have all been shown at the Castro in recent decades. The July 17th screening of Diary of a Lost Girl is the latest in a long history of Castro love for Lulu.

6) I will be there. Recently, as I am always going on about, I edited and wrote the introduction to a new “Louise Brooks edition” of Margarete Böhme’s 1905 book, The Diary of a Lost Girl (PandorasBox Press). Böhme’s book was the basis for the 1929 film of the same name. This just published illustrated edition includes the original English-language translation of this once controversial and bestselling work, which has been out of print in the United States for a century. My edition of The Diary of a Lost Girl is making its debut at the Festival. And what's more, I'll be giving away a mini-Thymain or mini-Louise Brooks button to those who line up to get a book.

Along with Resnick and Bernstein, I will also be meeting the public and signing books following the July 17th screening of Diary of a Lost Girl. That's a trio.

Hopefully, one of these six reasons should provide the tipping point in deciding to attend the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Please note, however, that when the Festival screened Pandora’s Box in 2006, it became the only film in the Festival’s now 15 year history to sell out in advance. The Castro Theater holds 1,400 people! That's a lot of Louise Brooks' fans.
 

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

How many silent films were made based on Diary of a Lost Girl

How many silent films were made based on Margarete Böhme's 1905 book, Tagebuch einer Verlorenen, or The Diary of a Lost Girl. There were at least two, and possibly three.

The first was directed by Richard Oswald and was based on his adaption of Böhme’s book. This 1918 film starred Erna Morena as Thymian, with Reinhold Schünzel as Osdorff, Werner Krauss as Meinert, and Conrad Veidt as Dr. Julius.  As a film, this version of Tagebuch einer Verlorenen was well reviewed, but demands of the censor at the time led to cuts and even a change in its title. Once censorship was lifted after the end of WWI, scenes thought too provocative or critical of society were restored and its famous title changed back.

[The cast and crew of the first version was indeed a remarkable assembly. Oswald went on to direct many films including Different from the Others  (1919). Together, Krauss and Veidt achieved cinema immortality in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920). Schünzel would also write and direct; his best known work is the seminal Viktor und Viktoria (1933). Pictured here are Veidt and Morena in a scene from Tagebuch einer Verlorenen.]

In 1929, Böhme’s book was made into a film a second time. G.W. Pabst’s version of Tagebuch einer Verlorenen came on the heels of his now classic Pandora’s Box, a film based on the similarly controversial Lulu plays authored by Frank Wedekind. Both of these films starred Louise Brooks. Also appearing in Pabst’s Diary of a Lost Girl is Fritz Rasp as Meinert and the dancer Valeska Gert as the sadistic reform school disciplinarian. The well known character actor Kurt Gerron also has a role in this second adaption.

However, in researching my introduction to the just issued new reprint of The Diary of a Lost Girl, I found that some film databases, such as filmportal.de and IMDb, list a 1912 German production titled Tagebuch einer Verlorenen. It was directed by Fritz Bernhardt and produced by Alfred Duskes. Little else is known of the film, which is presumably lost. And, its relationship to Böhme’s book is uncertain. Does anyone know?
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