Louise Brooks

Louise Brooks

Nascimento : 1906-11-14, Cherryvale, Kansas, USA

Morte : 1985-08-08

História

Mary Louise Brooks (November 14, 1906 – August 8, 1985) was an American film actress and dancer during the 1920s and 1930s. She is regarded today as an icon of the Jazz Age and flapper culture, in part due to the bob hairstyle that she helped popularize during the prime of her career. Brooks began her career as a dancer. While dancing in the Ziegfeld Follies in New York City, she came to the attention of Walter Wanger, a producer at Paramount Pictures, and was signed to a five-year contract with the studio. She appeared in supporting roles in various Paramount films before taking the heroine's role in Beggars of Life (1928). Dissatisfied with her mediocre roles in Hollywood films, Brooks went to Germany in 1929 and starred in three feature films that launched her to international stardom: Pandora's Box (1929), Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), and Miss Europe (1930); the first two were directed by G. W. Pabst. By 1938, she had starred in seventeen silent films and eight sound films. After retiring from acting, she fell upon financial hardship and became a paid escort. For the next two decades, she struggled with alcoholism and suicidal tendencies. Following the rediscovery of her films by cinephiles in the 1950s, a reclusive Brooks began writing articles about her film career; her insightful essays drew considerable acclaim. She published her memoir, Lulu in Hollywood, in 1982. Three years later, she died of a heart attack at age 78. [preceding biography, edited, from Wikipedia]

Perfil

Louise Brooks

Filmes

Fragments: Surviving Pieces of Lost Films
Herself (archive footage)
Among the pieces featured in Fragments are the final reel of John Ford's The Village Blacksmith (1922) and a glimpse at Emil Jannings in The Way of All Flesh (1927), the only Oscar®-winning performance in a lost film. Fragments also features clips from such lost films as Cleopatra (1917), starring Theda Bara; The Miracle Man (1919), with Lon Chaney; He Comes Up Smiling (1918), starring Douglas Fairbanks; an early lost sound film, Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929), filmed in early Technicolor, and the only color footage of silent star Clara Bow, Red Hair (1928). The program is rounded out with interviews of film preservationists involved in identifying and restoring these films. Also featured is a new interview with Diana Serra Cary, best known as "Baby Peggy", one of the major American child stars of the silent era, who discusses one of the featured fragments, Darling of New York (1923).
Why Be Good?: Sexuality & Censorship in Early Cinema
Self (archive footage)
Before the G, PG and R ratings system there was the Production Code, and before that there was, well, nothing. This eye-opening documentary examines the rampant sexuality of early Hollywood through movie clips and reminiscences by stars of the era. Gloria Swanson, Mary Pickford, Marlene Dietrich and others relate tales of the artistic freedom that led to the draconian Production Code, which governed content from 1934 to 1968. Diane Lane narrates.
Clara Bow: Discovering the It Girl
Self (archive footage)
Clara Bow: Discovering the 'It' Girl features scenes from 25 of her films, as well as interviews with family members and acquaintances.
Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu
Herself (archive footage)
Documentary recounting the life story of Louise Brooks in 5 sections: "Lulu in Toe Shoes"; "Lulu in Hollywood"; "Lulu in Berlin"; "Lulu in Hell"; and "Resurrection".
Lulu
Lulu
Initially commissioned to accompany a Danish production of Alban Berg’s LULU, Lewis Klahr’s cut-out animation refigures the opera's themes in a torrent of images. With an ever-inventive approach to color and symbol, Klahr distills the title character's moral predicament, along with a great many of German Expressionism’s characteristic motifs, in the span of a pop song.
The Casting Couch
(archive footage)
An unprecedented anthology of never-before-told true stories by and about some of Hollywood's most interesting stars, legends, and wannabes, and takes readers inside Hollywood's inner sanctum to show how casting decisions are made, who makes them, and who has the final word.
1001 Films
(archival)
An ode to film preservation, it presents a night-time visit to a seemingly depopulated repository (presumably the Royal Film Archive of Belgium), juxtaposing a series of images of observation, reconstruction, and projection using film fragments - from the hand-painted, altered image frames of Georges Méliès' Kingdom of the Fairies to the iconic image of Louise Brooks - to turn the archive into a temporal wonderland of novel discoveries, hidden treasure, re-awakened curiosity, and critical re-assessment.
Louise Brooks
Herself (Archival Footage)
55-Minute BBC Arena documentary on the film actress Louise Brooks
Lulu in Berlin
Herself
Vérité documentarian Richard Leacock’s LULU IN BERLIN features one of the few long interviews ever done with actor Louise Brooks. It took place in her apartment in Rochester, New York, in 1971.
Memories of Berlin: The Twilight of Weimar Culture
Self - Interviewee
The film tells the cultural story of Berlin during the Weimar Republic through interviews with a number of persons who were involved in literature, film, art, and music during the period. It includes interviews with Christopher Isherwood, Louise Brooks, Lotte Eisner, Elisabeth Bergner, Francis Lederer, Carl Zuckmayer, Gregor Piatigorsky, Claudio Arrau, Rudolf Kolisch, Mischa Spoliansky, Herbert Bayer, Mrs. Walter Gropius, and Arthur Koestler.
The Love Goddesses
(archive footage)
This insightful documentary features some of the major and most beautiful actresses to grace the silver screen. It shows how the movie industry changed its depiction of sex and actresses' portrayal of sex from the silent movie era to the present. Classic scenes are shown from the silent movie 'True Heart Susie,' starring Lillian Gish, to 'Love Me Tonight' (1932), blending sex and sophistication, starring Jeanette MacDonald (pre-Nelson Eddy), and to Elizabeth Taylor in 'A Place in the Sun' (1951), plus much , much more.
Bandidos Encobertos
Beth Hoyt
After gold shipments from a mining town have been hijacked, the three Mesquiteers buy a plane to fly the gold out. The owner of the shipping line brings in Eastern gangsters to thwart them.
Empty Saddles
Boots Boone
Buck runs into trouble when he buys a deserted cattle ranch that he turns into a dude ranch.
Windy Riley Goes Hollywood
Betty Grey
A driver on a non-stop race from New York to San Francisco gets detoured to Hollywood, where he winds up working as a publicity man for a movie studio and assigned to revive the career of a beautiful but fading star.
God's Gift to Women
Florine
A notorious womanizer sets his sights on a pretty American tourist, only to be told by his doctor that he must give up all romance for his health.
It Pays to Advertise
Thelma Temple
To prove his thesis that any product--even one that doesn't exist--can be merchandized if it is advertised properly, a young man gets together with his father's savvy secretary to market a non-existent laundry soap. Complications ensue when his "product" turns out to be more successful than even he imagined--and now he has to deliver.
Miss Europe
Lucienne
Lucienne, typist and gorgeous bathing beauty, decides to enter the 'Miss Europe' pageant sponsored by the French newspaper she works for. She finds her jealous lover Andre violently disapproves of such events and tries to withdraw, but it's too late; she's even then being named Miss France. The night Andre planned to propose to her, she's being whisked off to the Miss Europe finals in Spain, where admirers swarm around her. Win or lose, what will the harvest be?
Diário de uma Garota Perdida
Thymian Henning
Thymiane Henning, é uma jovem garota inocente que é enganada por um amigo de seu pai e fica grávida. Ela acaba sendo rejeitada pela sua família e descobre como o mundo pode ser cruel.
O Drama de uma Noite
The Canary
A beautiful showgirl, name "the Canary" is a scheming nightclub singer. Blackmailing is her game and with that she ends up dead. But who killed "the Canary". All the suspects knew and were used by her and everyone had a motive to see her dead. The only witness to the crime has also been 'rubbed out'. Only one man, the keen, fascinating, debonair detective Philo Vance, would be able to figure out who is the killer. Written by Tony Fontana
A Caixa de Pandora
Lulu
Rico dono de jornal Dr. Schön casa com a bela e amoral dançarina Lulu. Em uma crise de ciúme, se atraca com Lulu e, durante a briga, uma arma dispara, matando-o. Condenada pelo crime, Lulu foge com o filho do marido morto, Alwa, também apaixonado por ela.
Beggars of Life
The Girl (Nancy)
After killing her treacherous step-father, a girl tries to escape the country with a young vagabond. She dresses as a boy, they hop freight trains, quarrel with a group of hobos, and steal a car in their attempt to escape the police, and reach Canada.
Uma Noiva em Cada Porto
Marie / Mam'selleGodiva - Girl in Marseille
Os marinheiros Spike e Salami vivem metidos com mulheres e aventuras, sempre bebendo de bar em bar. A rivalidade deles concorrendo por mulheres vira uma amizade, mas quando um deles decide se acomodar, uma mulher jovem e misteriosa se coloca entre eles.
The City Gone Wild
Snuggles Joy
Hard-boiled underworld melodrama, with gang wars and gunfights, in which criminal lawyer turns prosecutor to avenge a friend's death.
Now We're in the Air
Griselle and Grisette
Wally and Ray are cousins intent upon getting the fortune of their Scots grandad, an aviation nut. They become mixed-up with the U. S. flying corps and are wafted over the enemy lines in a runaway balloon. Through misunderstanding they are honored as heroes of the enemy forces, and sent back to the U.S. lines to spy. Here they are captured and almost shot, but everything ends happily. Only 20 minutes of this 6 reel comedy are extant.
Meias Indiscretas
Carol Fleming
O Sr. Treadway está decepcionado com o filho Jim (James Hall) por não fazer parte da equipe de regata na faculdade enquanto seu irmão mais novo, Ralph (Richard Arlen), faz parte da equipe e sustenta a tradição da família. O irmão é cativado pelos encantos de Carol Fleming (Louise Brooks), mas Ralph é prejudicado por trotes e regras rígidas de treinamento. Na véspera da grande corrida da faculdade, Jim leva Carol para um baile e deixa Ralph ardendo de ciúme; decidindo enfrentar a desaprovação oficial, Ralph vai ao baile e leva uma jovem loura de jazz para uma hospedaria. Jim vai atrás e ejeta seu irmão depois de uma briga e é encontrado com a garota. Depois de ser aclamado como herói, Ralph confessa que é culpado pela desgraça de Jim, e Carol encontra a felicidade com o irmão mais velho.
Evening Clothes
Fox Trot
Attracted by his wealth, avaricious Germaine marries D'Artois, then leaves him for a more sophisticated man. D'Artois retaliates by moving to the city and learning the proper social graces. His new life style proves to be too expensive for him, and at the end he is left with nothing but one suit of evening clothes and his now contrite wife.
Just Another Blonde
Diana O'Sullivan
Jimmy O'Connor and Scotty are a couple of New York City gamblers and sharpies who decide to go straight and, since they are such good friends, split 50-50 "even steven" on anything they get or do. Jimmy, a confirmed bachelor, doesn't care for women but Scotty falls in love with Diana O'Sullivan, a Coney Island girl. They decide that Jimmy needs a girlfriend and they opt for Jeannie Cavanaugh. But, following their 50-50 pact, Jimmy, although he has fallen in love with Jeannie, praises Scotty to her.
The Show Off
Clara
A blowhard who poses as a railroad executive (but is really just a $30-a-week clerk) catches a young bride and then drives her family's finances to the brink of ruin.
It's the Old Army Game
Mildred Marshall
Druggist Elmer Prettywillie is sleeping. A woman rings the night bell only to buy a two-cent stamp. Then garbage collectors waken him. Next it's firemen on a false alarm. And then a real fire.
Desfrutando a Alta Sociedade
Kitty Laverne
Small-town barber Max Haber is the pride of his father, Johann, who owns an antiquated barbershop. Max adores Kitty Laverne, the manicurist, who loves him but is ambitious to be a dancer, so she heads for New York, hoping that he will follow in pursuit of better things. Mrs. Jackson-Greer, a New York society matron, has occasion to note Max styling the hair of a town girl and induces him to come to New York and pose as a French count. There he meets April, Mrs. King's niece, and loses his heart to her, as well as to Kitty, now a showgirl.
Amá-las... e Deixá-las
Janie Walsh
Mame Walsh promised their mother on her deathbed to look after little sister Janie. But Janie helps herself to everything of her sister's, be it her clothes or her men - even the money entrusted to her by fellow employees at the store they work at. Regardless, Mame can't break her promise. So when it comes to getting Janie out of trouble, big sister comes to the rescue.
The American Venus
Miss Bayport
A lost film - Mary Gray, whose father manufactures cold cream, is engaged to sappy Horace Niles, the son of Hugo Niles, the elder Gray's most competitive rival in the cosmetics business. Chip Armstrong, a hot-shot public relations man, quits the employ of Hugo Niles and goes to work for Gray, persuading Mary to enter the Miss America contest at Atlantic City, with the intention of using her to endorse her father's cold cream should she win. Mary breaks her engagement with Horace. When it appears that she will win the contest, Hugo lures her home on the pretext that her father is ill, and she misses the contest. Chip and Mary return to Atlantic City, discovering that the new Miss America has told the world that she owes all her success to Gray's cold cream. On this note, Chip and Mary decide to get married.