Because she typically played flappers and femme fatales, Louise Brooks is not thought of as an actress associated with horror films or monster movies. However, such was almost not the case.
For a time in the mid-1930s, director James Whale seriously considered Brooks for the lead in The Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Whale also considered Brigitte Helm, a German actress and the star of Metropolis (1927). In the end, however, he chose neither - and instead settled on a British actress, Elsa Lanchester. With her empty expressiveness and streaked hair, she was perfect for the role.
One other interesting intersection of the gothic with Brooks’ career revolves around The Diary of a Lost Girl, the 1905 book by Margarete Bohme. It was the basis for the 1929 film of the same name starring Brooks.
Bohme’s book was filmed twice.The first time was in 1918 by Richard Oswald, and was based on his adaption of the novel. This acclaimed and censored version starred Erna Morena as Thymian, with Werner Krauss as Meinert and Conrad Veidt as Dr. Julius. (Together, Krauss and Veidt achieved cinema immortality in another early spooky classic, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920).
Earlier, when Bohme’s book was translated into English and published in the UK, its sensational story line was praised by some and attacked by others.
In December of 1907, the New York Times, surveying the English literary scene,took note of the book’s reception. “At any rate, however, the book is interesting and widely read in England. Mr. Hall Caine has announced publicly and rather ambiguously that he admires it more than ‘anything of its kind’ which he has read for years. There are many readers, however, who find it very shocking, and Mr. Bram Stoker, the advocate of book censoring (as a London cable to this Review announced recently) would ban it promptly.”
Stoker, of course, is the author of Dracula, the classic Victorian-era novel whose story of a vampire has been filmed numerous times, most gloriously in 1931with Bela Lugosi in the title role. (Incidentally, Caine and Stoker were friends, and Stoker dedicated Dracula to his good friend under the nickname "Hommy-Beg.")
For more info: For more about Louise Brooks, visit the Louise Brooks Society website. For more about the Margarete Bohme’s The Diary of a Lost Girl, visit www.pandorasbox.com/diary.html
Thomas Gladysz is a longtime fan of Louise Brooks, so much so that in 1995 he founded the Louise Brooks Society, an internet-based archive and international fan club devoted to the silent film star. Gladysz has contributed to books on the actress, organized exhibits, appeared on television, and introduced her films around the country. Recently, he edited and wrote the introduction to the “Louise Brooks edition” of Margarete Bohme’s The Diary of a Lost Girl.Gladysz will speak about his new book at the San Francisco Public Libraryon November 14th (Louise Brooks’ birthday).
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