What's missing from Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema

February will seen the launch of Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema. It is a 21 film salute to the best movies from Poland. Unfortunately, there are no silent films among the many  exceptional films which make-up the program.

Had there been, I would suggest a 1929 Polish silent called Mocny Czlowiek (A Strong Man). It was directed by Henryk Szaro (1900 – 1942), a screenwriter and theater and film director. Born Henoch Szapiro to a Jewish family, Szaro was a leading Polish director of the late 1920s and 1930s. He was killed in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942, after being pulled out of his apartment and shot in the streets. Something of a prodigy, Szaro was only 29 when he directed Mocny Czlowiek. It was his 7th film.


Like many other Polish movies that disappeared during World War II, Mocny Czlowiek was long considered lost until a copy was found in Belgium in 1997. Based on a 1912 novel by Stanislaw Przybyszewski (a Dostoevskian writer known as “the discoverer of the human naked soul”), Mocny Czlowiek tells the story of a mediocre journalist who, dreaming of fame and glory, leads his ill friend, a far more talented writer, to an early death in order to steal his unpublished manuscript.

The film is remarkable for many reasons. What stands out is its contemporary sensibility, especially its moral relativity, drug use, and casual acceptance of criminal behavior. Also striking is its vigorous film narrative brought about through the use of dynamic camera movement, montage, and the use of dissolves and double and triple exposures. For good reason, this Polish silent film has been compared to the best German and Soviet movies of silent era. According to IMdb, "Interviewed after the film's premiere, director Henryk Szaro said he had shot about five hours of footage. Less than eighty minutes made it into the final cut. All deleted scenes are now lost and probably do not exist anymore." That's is unfortunate, because this  brilliant film captures a gone world.

If you like Pandora's Box and film from Weimar Germany, chances are you will like Mocny Czlowiek. It is a film which seeps into the dark recesses of your heart.


Like Poland, which was situated between two dominant political and military powers, this extraordinary Polish production shows the influence of both the German and Russian silent cinema -- though it stands firmly on its own. (Interestingly, the film's lead was played by the Ukranian-born Russian actor Gregori Chmara, who was married to one-time Lulu Asta Nielsen; his career ran from 1915 to 1971.) Szaro's drama of individual cruelty, desire and weakness was released on DVD in Europe in 2006 with a soundtrack written and recorded by three contemporary Polish composers.

Embedded below is a 3 minute "run through" of the film with its contemporary musical soundtrack.

If you like what you see, and I think you will, follow this YouTube link to watch the entire 78 minute film on YouTube. It is available there in nine parts.

Louise Brooks in a scene from Pandora's Box

Louise Brooks as Lulu - from the 1929 film Pandora's Box, directed by G.W. Pabst.The film is being shown in Luxembourg next week. See previous post.

Louise Brooks stars in Pandora's Box in Luxembourg

Pandora's Box (1929), starring Louise Brooks, will be shown in Luxembourg on February 4th. Here is the write-up from the venue, Philharmonie, place de l’Europe, Luxembourg-Kirchberg.

"The Ensemble Kontraste from Germany performs its score for Pandora’s Box at the Philharmonie. 

With her iconic bob haircut and sultry smile, Louise Brooks became an icon late in life--it was only in the 1950s when her work was rediscovered by French film critics and then later she was adopted as a symbol of sexual freedom by the gay and lesbian community.

The latter canonisation may well have been thanks to her performance in Georg Wilhelm Pabst’s 1929 silent classic Die Büchse der Pandora, in which she plays Lulu, whose lack of inhibitions bring ruin and tragedy to all, including herself. The film is also one of the first to portray a lesbian (played by Alice Roberts).

The great critic Roger Ebert best described Brooks’ performance in the film when he wrote that she “regards us from the screen as if the screen were not there; she casts away the artifice of film and invites us to play with her.”

However, critics at the time of the film’s release were generally less enthused and some even said Brooks was unattractive. It is now considered one of the greats of German silent cinema.

It is screened at the Philharmonie with live music from the Ensemble Kontraste, conducted by Frank Strobel and playing a score especially composed for the film by Peer Raben."

Louise Brooks in a scene from Prix de Beauté

Louise Brooks in a scene from Prix de Beauté (1930). Beautiful you are....

Louise Brooks :: Timelock :: Louise Brooks

Louise Brooks :: T.i.m.e.l.o.c.k. :: Louise Brooks

Louise Brooks :: T.i.m.e.l.o.c.k. :: Louise Brooks
Released January 1, 1992
More at http://www.last.fm/music/Timelock/Louise+Brooks

Two screenings of Pandora's Box with Louise Brooks

Pandora's Box is a silent film that just won't go away.

Largely panned when it debuted in 1929, this German-made film starring Louise Brooks has experienced a decades-long comeback and is now considered one of great films of the silent era. These days, its shown more often than many of the more acclaimed films of its time.

Two screenings of Pandora's Box will take place in the coming days. The film will shown in Toronto, Canada on Sunday, January 26th at the Revue Cinema. And on Monday, January 27th, Pandora's Box will be screened at The Paramount Theater in Seattle.

Directed by G.W. Pabst, Pandora’s Box tells the story of Lulu (played by Brooks), a lovely and somewhat petulant show-girl whose flirtations with members of each sex lead to tragic results. Despite having appeared in 23 other films – some of them quite good, Lulu is the role for which Brooks is best known today.

Others in the 109 minute film include acclaimed German stage star Fritz Kortner, as Dr. Schon, a respected businessman, and Francis Lederer, a dashing young actor who plays Schon's son. Both Schon's fall under Lulu's spell.

Lulu, a iconic character brought into the world by the German dramatist Frank Wedekind, has been described as a femme fatale, but in fact, she is a kind of innocent. As Brooks' biographer Barry Paris put it, her “sinless sexuality hypnotizes and destroys the weak, lustful men around her.” . . . And not just men. Lulu’s sexual magnetism knows few bounds, and this once controversial and censored film features what is described as the cinema's first lesbian. The Countess Geschwitz, covertly in love with Lulu, is played by Alice Roberts.

Coiffed in her signature black bob, Brooks inhabited her character thoroughly and effectively. Some say she lived it. The resulting performance in Pandora's Box, called "devastating" by contemporary critics, has become the stuff of legend.

The Toronto screening is part of Silent Sundays series, now in its fifth season; founded by journalist Eric Veillette, the Canadian series is curated by media archivist Alicia Fletcher. In Toronto, Pandora's Box will feature live piano accompaniment by William O’Meara.

The Seattle screening is part of the Seattle Theater Group's series Trader Joe's Silent Movie Mondays. The film is a special pick by the Seattle International Film Festival and their Women in Cinema Festival. In Seattle, Pandora's Box will feature Jim Riggs on the Paramount's Mighty Wurlitzer Organ. A CineClub discussion led by Beth Barrett, SIFF's Director of Programming, follows the screening.

Why these screenings, and why now?

It may be the growing public and media interest in the silent film era in the wake of the acclaim given The Artist and Hugo (the latter contains a shout-out to Brooks). Brooks herself was the subject of a recent best selling novel by Laura Moriarty, The Chaperone. It is in development as a major motion picture.

Or, it may be the actress' own story – the story of her rise and fall and reemergence – not only within the annals of film history but within popular culture and the even larger realm of public awareness. When Barry Paris wrote his outstanding 1989 biography of the actress, he originally titled it Louise Brooks: Her Life, Death and Resurrection. That title suggests something extraordinary, something even mythic.

If you attend either of these events, please leave your impressions in the comments field....

Louise Brooks Encyclopedia: Emil Coleman

Welcome to a new feature of the Louise Brooks Society blog - the Louise Brooks Encyclopedia. The first entry is devoted to bandleader Emil Coleman. In 1935, Coleman and his Orchestra shared the bill with Brooks & Dario in the Persian Room of the Plaza Hotel in New York City.

Who was Emil Coleman?

As early as 1917, the Russian-born pianist was performing in New York City on the third floor of Reisenweber's restaurant, upstairs from the Original Dixieland Jazz Band on the second floor and Gus Edwards on the first floor in a coming together of musicians regarded as the musical beginning of the Jazz Age in the Big Apple.

Starting in 1918, Coleman would lead one of the most popular dance bands in New York, first at the Montmartre Hotel (where Gloria Vanderbilt saw him) and then over the years at the Riviera, Central Park Casino (where he would be replaced by Eddie Duchin), Club Lido, St. Regis (in the King Cole Room, featuring Kay Thompson), Trocadero, Mocambo, and the famed Waldorf-Astoria, where he was a fixture.

Adapting to changing musical styles, the portly, balding Coleman developed the "medley" form of dance band repertoire emulated by other society orchestras. He played the Charleston, Tango, and Rumba, along with big band swing. He also performed on the radio, and at hundreds of debutante balls and social galas. Between 1923 and 1934, Coleman's various hotel orchestras registered 12 hits on the national charts on the Vocalion, Brunswick and Colombia labels. Among them were "Little Man, You've had a Busy Day," which peaked at #2 in 1934, and "What Is There to Say?" from the Ziegfeld Follies of 1934. Though his sound was sweet, Coleman's recordings were appreciated and collected by many, including even Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner.

Coleman's filmed appearances include musical shorts in the 1930's and 1940s, and a television appearance on the Arthur Murray Party show in the early 1950s. In later years, Coleman continued to record and perform, issuing the "Walter Winchell Rumba" in 1952, and backing up Eddie Fisher's comeback at the Waldorf-Astoria in 1959. Coleman's last vinyl LP was Emil Coleman Lights Up ... The Plaza on Phillips.

Not much is known about the other orchestra noted on the ad, the George Sterney Orchestra, except that they too played on the radio in the 1930s and 1940s. I haven't found any recordings by them.

Know anything else about Emil Coleman? Please post in the comments!