Director: G. W. Pabst
Louise Brooks has a magnetic screen quality similar to Marilyn Monroe, Barbara Stanwyck, Rita Hayworth, Audrey Hepburn and many others. It is not simply down to beauty or acting ability, but they all possess a certain something that makes it impossible to look at anyone else while they are on screen. This quality is perfectly used in Pabst's film as Brooks plays Lulu, a young woman whose sexuality seems to drive men to do incredibly mad things.
The story is melodramatic, with death, falls from grace and rioteous crowd scenes providing the plot turning points. Its origins as a play are still present onscreen in the form of intertitle cards announcing 'Act One' and so on. Pandora is grand in its stylistic excess; even the scenes of poverty feel large. While the other actors are good, none can compete with Brooks. She has a naturalness to her which rather highlights the performative behaviour of everyone else. Though Lulu is not a completely 'pure' character, you cannot but help sympathise with her; many of her problems are caused by the people having extreme reactions to her mere presence. This is no better demonstrated then in the famous court room scene, where Lulu is painted as either an angel or the blackest woman to walk the earth.
This is another example of the international appeal of silent film; the audience and the actors are not struggling through language barriers or adopting ghastly accents. It also shows us why Louise Brooks was one of the most significant actors in early cinema, and why Pabst went all the way to America to find his leading lady.
What strikes me most about Louise Brooks is the same thing that struck me about Paulette Goddard when she was in Modern Times. You could pluck her out of that film and put her in something releasing next week and she wouldn't look out of place. She looks like a modern woman. Absolutely magnetic.
ReplyDeleteYes, she has that quality that transcends her place in history. The look she gives to her lover's fiancee at one point in the film felt very modern, almost jarring with the rest of the action.
DeleteI love this movie so much! It's my favorite silent film. I've seen it a bunch of times,
ReplyDeleteIt always get me how awful everybody is. Like that bit where Shigolch talks Quast into seducing the Countess Geschwitz, and they are both flirting with each other and it's so humiliating! Quast is gross and Geschwitz is just ridiculous. They are so easily manipulated by Shigolch because he knows how awful they are and what their weaknesses are.
And everybody is so awful because of the spell cast by Lulu. And she's not doing it on purpose! She's just trying to get through life and take a little pleasure where she can. She's smiling and dancing in the eye of the hurricane, innocently dragging everyone to their doom.
Diary of a Lost Girl is almost as good. For Pabst's other work, The Threepenny Opera is amazing!
For Louise Brooks, see Beggars of Life, Beauty Prize and It's the Old Army Game.
Lulu may not be a saint, but she is much better than the people around her, who all do such horrible things; and as you say, they all blame Lulu! This is often a difficult idea to translate onto film, it really relies on correct casting: I can't imagine anyone else but Brooks being to convince the audience that people would fall over themselves for her.
DeleteThanks again for the recommendations! I shall look out for them, though in Australia, decent quality silent films are hard to find, particularly on DVD.
A lot of them are on YouTube!
DeleteThere is a ton of symbolism in the Lulu character, so much that the person almost disappears. She is the temptress, the vigor, the innocence and a lot more. In the end however she is used to tell us something about the men around her. I love it when movies go that step deeper. Oh, and I believe you can still go to a hairdresser and order a Lulu.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, she reveals more about the characters around her, all seemingly driven mad with desire. I think she manages to remain herself, a largely innocent girl who just likes to have a good time. The problems lie with everyone else!
DeleteIf I could pull of a Lulu as well as Brooks does, I would have one, but bob cuts make me look like a choir boy. In Australia we have a television show called Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, where the main characters sports a particularly good Lulu cut (it being set in the 1920s, this is clearly a direct reference to Miss Brooks!)