What we want for Christmas . . .

By Thomas Gladysz
San Francisco Silent Film Examiner

What we want for Christmas . . . are more DVD’s featuring Louise Brooks.

Best known for her singular role as Lulu in Pandora’s Box, Brooks had a brief but remarkable career. She appeared in only 24 films. In her day, Brooks was not considered a major star. And the actress herself had little interest in Hollywood.

Nevertheless, this diminutive Kansas-born Denishawn dancer / Ziegfeld Follies showgirl / reluctant actress / and bestselling author still attracts fans. Today, Brooks is among the most popular of stars from the silent era.

Of her 24 films, nearly a quarter are lost – including every film Brooks made in 1927. Other of her films are unavailable, or are hard-to-find. What her many contemporary fans want are more of her surviving films properly restored and released on DVD.

Happily, there have been a couple of releases in the last few years.

In 2006, for example, Kino released Prix de Beaute on DVD. (It had been available on VHS.) Brooks made the film in France in 1930, and it was her last starring role. Based on a story idea by G.W. Pabst and Rene Clair and directed by the Augusto Genina, Prix de Beaute was shot as a silent and adapted for sound. It is a good film with an unforgettable – even “great” ending.

Some, however, have small complaints with the quality of the transfer used for this Kino release. And, there was little in the way of bonus material.

What’s needed is a two disc set featuring remastered prints of both the sound and silent versions. And, if it’s not too much to ask, please load it up with extras like the original French press book, and a translation of the 1932 novelization by the French film critic known as Boisyvon. And how about variant recordings of the film’s lovely and still popular theme song, “Je N'ai Qu'un Amour C'est Toi.” There were a handful of recorded versions at the time of the film’s release. And in 2000, cartoonist Robert Crumb, as a member of Les Primitifs du Futur, recorded another.

Also in 2006 (the year of the Louise Brooks centenary), the Criterion Collection released a two disc restored version of Pandora’s Box. It is a handsome set which features a new, restored, high-definition digital transfer of the G.W. Pabst-directed film, along with new and improved English subtitle translation, and four different optional soundtracks.

The Criterion set also features commentary by film scholars Thomas Elsaesser and Mary Ann Doane (both have written on Brooks in the past), as well as the superb 1998 documentary Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu, the Richard Leacock-directed filmed interview Lulu in Berlin, and new video interviews with Leacock and Michael Pabst, the director's son. The accompanying booklet includes Kenneth Tynan's famous essay "The Girl in the Black Helmet," a chapter from Brooks' memoir, Lulu in Hollywood, and a new essay by film critic J. Hoberman. All together, it’s an impressive and resource-full set. As it should be. The two documentaries, for example, are getting hard to find.

At the time of its 1929 release, Pandora’s Box was cut, heavily censored, cut, given a new ending, cut, and altered some more. It’s had to say the least a rather tumultuous history. At the time of its American debut in New York City, for example, local newspaper critics complained about the film’s incomplete form, disjointed story line, and added saccharine ending. The Criterion release is a good restoration and the best going, but there may be room for refinements.

Rumor has it that another restoration of Pandora’s Box is in the works. That version, it’s rumored, will debut sometime next year – and it may have a well known composer associated with a whole new soundtrack. What will the restoration entail? And which contemporary composer will provide a new score? Philip Glass? Elvis Costello? It’s hard to say. Hopefully, we’ll find out in 2010. And hopefully, this latest restoration will eventually be released on DVD.

The three movies Brooks made in Europe, Pandora’s Box (1929), Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), and Prix de Beaute (1930), are the most widely available of the actress’ films. In 2001, Kino issued a remastered version of Diary of a Lost Girl which featured additional footage restored to the film. Like Pandora’s Box, it too suffered under the censor’s knife.

The great Austrian-born director G.W. Pabst had a hand in each of the European films – as director of the first two and as contributor to the last. As a kind of unintentional trilogy – they should be released in the United States in a boxed set . . . . just as Carlotta Films did in Europe in 2004. That remarkable French set features the three European films as well as a truly generous amount of bonus material, much of it not seen in America.

The three films Brooks made in Europe are her most widely available. What are not widely available are her American silent films. They are more than deserving of release on DVD.

The best of them may well be Beggars of Life. Directed by William Wellman (whose Pre-Code work is enjoying renewed interest of late) and based on an autobiographical novel by Jim Tully (a “hobo writer” whose work is also garnering renewed attention), this vivid 1928 drama tells the story of a girl who dresses as a boy and goes on the run after killing her abusive step-father. Brooks plays Nancy, who runs from the law and rides the rails through a tough, male dominated hobo subculture. Wallace Beery and Richard Arlen co-star.

The George Eastman House in Rochester, New York has a worthwhile 35mm print of the film - enlarged from 16mm, which it has exhibited around the country. (That print was screened at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival in 2007.) This exhibition print certainly needs work – cleaning, etc…, but it would just as certainly be a splendid candidate for release on DVD. It is bright, for one thing, and one can discern the action on the screen. Hopefully, such a release would retire the inferior and rather dark grey-market copies of Beggars of Life still making the rounds on VHS and DVD.

A good film to pair it with is The Street of Forgotten Men. Herbert Brenon’s 1925 underworld tale is set in a “cripple factory” for professional beggars who prey on an unsuspecting public. This unusual melodrama was highly praised in its day – and many critics compared Percy Marmont’s starring role to the work of Lon Chaney. Neil Hamilton and Mary Brian co-star.

Though uncredited, The Street of Forgotten Men was the first in which Brooks had a part. Her time on screen is brief - only about five minutes. Nevertheless, it marked the actress’ debut and was impressive enough to gain Brooks her first film review. The critic for the Los Angeles Times commented, “And there was a little rowdy, obviously attached to the 'blind' man, who did some vital work during her few short scenes.”

A rather good, though incomplete, print of The Street of Forgotten Men is housed at the Library of Congress, where six of the film’s seven reels reside. Little of the film’s story is lost due to the missing reel. Even incomplete, The Street of Forgotten Men is a satisfying silent film.

Another pair of films which would work splendidly together are Love Em and Leave Em and Just Another Blonde. Each is a romantic comedy, and each was released in December, 1926. Love Em and Leave Em, from Paramount, was directed by reliable Frank Tuttle and stars Evelyn Brent, Lawrence Gray and Osgood Perkins (the Father of Anthony). It is a rather enjoyable domestic comedy – with a sassy Brooks nearly stealing the show from principal star Brent.

Just Another Blonde, from First National, was directed by Alfred Santell and stars Dorothy Mackaill, Jack Mulhall and William “Buster” Collier, Jr. The film was long thought lost until fragments turned up a few years ago. Reportedly, as much as 20 minutes of the film still exists, including scenes featuring our miss Brooks! The condition of the remaining fragments – which are housed at the UCLA Film & Television Archive - is unknown, but bits of it were acceptable enough to be screened in 1996 as part of a lost films program at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Ah, how Brooks’ many fans desire to view such long unseen footage of the actress….

Love Em and Leave Em compares favorably with The Show Off, an earlier 1926 film. The Show Off was released by Kino on DVD in 2001. That domestic comedy was paired with another silent feature, The Plastic Age, starring Clara Bow. Unfortunately, this Kino release appears to be out-of-print, as used copies are going for more than $100.00.

Some of Brooks’ other extant silent films which have not seen proper release on DVD include It’s the Old Army Game (1926) starring W.C. Fields, and Howard Hawks’ A Girl in Every Port (1928), with Victor McLaglen and Robert Armstrong. Both are deserving of restoration and wider circulation. As is the transitional 1929 crime drama, The Canary Murder Case.

And then there are Brooks’ sound-era films. Two films from 1931, the Paramount release, It Pays to Advertise (1931), with Carol Lombard, Skeets Gallagher, and Eugene Palette - could be smartly paired with the amusing Warner Brother’s Pre-Code comedy, God’s Gift to Women, which features Frank Fay, Joan Blondell and Laura LaPlante. Brooks had small roles in each film.

Windy Riley Goes Hollywood (1931), a sound short with Brooks directed by Fatty Arbuckle (under an alias) might serve as bonus material. Currently, it can be found on the Kino release of Diary of a Lost Girl.

Another sensible pairing are the two Westerns in which Brooks appeared near the end of her tenure in Hollywood. Empty Saddles (1936) was made by Universal and starred an ageing Buck Jones. Overland Stage Raiders (1938) was made by Republic Pictures and starred a youthful John Wayne. Both are ok films largely of interest today because Brooks had a principal role in each.

In addition to the feature films, there is also a fair amount of hard-to-come-by cinematic bonus material which should be released, or released. Brooks fans would eat it up. Maybe, hopefully, keep our fingers crossed, by some bit of luck, or just by chance, some of these films will be released on DVD.