Louise Brooks at the NFTouise
Brooks, who appeared in silent and a few sound films in the 1920s and
early thirties, has something of a cult reputation, and the NFT has been running
a season of her films. In two of the earliest she appears as a support player.
In It's the Old Army Game (1926), which stars
the great comedian W.C.Fields, she has little to do except look
pretty and provide a small love sub-plot with another minor character: in
The
Show Off (also 1926) she plays the girl next door and adds a
little sparkle to an otherwise rather dull comedy starring Ford
Sterling (once a Keystone Cop and by 1926 a comedy lead player) as a
self-important fantasist and liar, and Lois Wilson - adequate rather than good - as his
wife. In both films Brooks is attractive and appealing and certainly shows star
quality, though no more than many other actresses of the
period.
She made another eight films in Hollywood over the next two years, becoming increasingly famous: the best are the last two, A Girl in Every Port (1928) and Beggars of Life (1928). In the latter she goes on the run disguised as a boy, a part which suited her direct, challenging gaze which distinguished many of her publicity photos as well as her performances. But it is on the German film Pandora's Box (from which the still above is taken) that her cult reputation depends... Read more about Louise Brooks in Pandora's Box... Posted: Thu - December 28, 2006 at 09:13 AM by Roger Wilmut |
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Total entries in this category: Published On: Mar 11, 2016 05:00 PM |