FOCUS ON LOUISE BROOKS On Blu-ray From Flicker Alley

 

For this Region Free Blu-ray Flicker Alley and the San Francisco Film Preserve have gathered together clips and fragments from four different films featuring Louise Brooks. 

In a number of ways Louise Brooks is the equivalent to Marilyn Monroe and James Dean in that her image and legends about her personal life have had far more impact than any of her movie performances. FOCUS ON LOUISE BROOKS gives an example of how hard it is to get an appreciation for Brooks' early acting career. Of the four films covered on this disc, none of them presently survive in a complete form....and Brooks is not the main star in any of them. Nevertheless, she still manages to have a striking onscreen charisma, even in these short clips. 

This Blu-ray has trailers and a few test shots (some in early color) from THE AMERICAN VENUS, in which Brooks got her first onscreen credit. About 20 minutes exist from NOW WE'RE IN THE AIR, a silly WWI comedy starring Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatton. The publicity stills that Brooks posed for (see the one used for the disc case above) are more familiar than anything in the actual movie. Brooks actually had a dual role as twins, but the footage that exists only shows her as one of the ladies. 

About thirty minutes exist of JUST ANOTHER BLONDE, a romantic comedy in which Brooks plays the second female lead to Dorothy Mackaill. 

The main feature on this disc is THE STREET OF FORGOTTEN MEN, a 1925 production which contains Louise Brooks' screen debut. This film exists almost in its entirety, except for the second reel, which has been recreated with stills and excerpts from a copy of the script. THE STREET OF FORGOTTEN MEN is a melodrama concerning a group of characters from the Bowery section of New York City in the early 1900s who pretend to be disabled and down and out so that they can make a living as professional beggars. The most successful of this group is a man called "Easy Money Charley" (Percy Marmont) who has a secret life in which he raises an orphan (Mary Brian) in the suburbs away from his underhanded activities. Charley's ward falls in love with an upper-class lawyer (Neil Hamilton), and the fake vagabond goes to great lengths to make sure her past and her association with him is not known. The movie has a major Lon Chaney/Tod Browning vibe to it, and it is well-directed by Herbert Brenon. 

Brooks has a very small part toward the end of THE STREET OF FORGOTTEN MEN--she plays the female companion of the story's heavy--but she still makes a big impression. Her freshness and modern looks make her appear to be a visitor from another planet when compared to the disreputable denizens who surround her in the very short time she is in front of the camera. 

FOCUS ON LOUISE BROOKS may not actually have much footage of Brooks, but it has plenty of extras to compensate. It comes with a 16-page illustrated booklet, with articles on the films covered on the disc by Brooks expert Thomas Gladysz, and notes on what it took to restore this footage by Robert Byrne. The booklet also has info on the two men who provided original music for the footage on the disc, Wayne Barker and Stephen Horne. For each collection of footage on this disc, extensive text notes appear that detail the restoration involved for it. 

The disc also has a featurette that runs about a half hour long called "Looking at Lulu", in which film historian Pamela Hutchinson gives a concise examination of Brooks's life and acting career. Hutchinson also provides a fine audio commentary for THE STREET OF FORGOTTEN MEN. 

Thomas Gladysz, Robert Byrne, and Kathy Rose O'Regan also do audio commentaries on the rest of the footage, and they detail Brooks' work on each film and the restoration process for each of them. There's also an extensive image gallery, and the disc sleeve is reversible. If one orders this disc direct from Flicker Alley, it comes in a special slipcase (see below). 

There really isn't all that much footage of Louise Brooks on this disc, but once again her image takes center stage throughout it. A lot of time and effort went into the restoration of the footage included here, and while it is not extensive, it's enough to show that Louise Brooks could project a notable screen presence with very little to do. Perhaps Flicker Alley has plans for more Louise Brooks-related product, since there are still a few of her films that still exist and have not had a major home video release.