It has been ten years since the Arnolfini hosted Bristol Silents’ first event - a Louise Brooks Double Bill. Back then, it seemed as if Bristol Silents might be a club for ageing, mostly male geeks with a small projector in a garage; but it has grown hugely. Supremo Chris Daniels looks as pleased as he is amazed; although of course, it didn’t just happen by magic. Once or twice a year Bristol’s enormous Colston Hall sells out for old-fashioned black-and-white silent film shows.
Friday 29th October 2010: To mark the anniversary, Bristol Festival of Ideas in collaboration with Arnolfini presented an evening celebrating the life and work of the incomparable Miss Brooks. Despite Hollywood's ill-use and her own best efforts to remain invisible after her first flowering, Brooks became a powerful face in cinema - indeed in our culture, her legacy shaped by her mesmerising work in a handful of European films, more than her appearances in a few 'girlie' comedies in Hollywood.
Diary of a Lost Girl confirmed Pabst as one of the great pre-talkie directors and established Brooks as an "actress of brilliance, a luminescent personality and a beauty unparalleled in screen history." (Kevin Brownlow). Brooks plays Thymian who, raped by her father's assistant, gives birth to an illegitimate child. When she refuses to marry the obnoxious assistant she is forced to leave the baby and is sent to a strict reform school for ‘wayward’ girls. It’s the second of two major films made by G.W. Pabst in Germany. The other, Pandora’s Box – with Brooks playing the part of Lulu – is usually considered one of the great films of the silent era. I would say that Diary, though not shown as often and not as highly regarded, doubtless because of its complexity and subtle sophistication as much as for its sordid story-line and full-frontal attack on society’s hypocrisies, deserves a higher ranking than Pandora.
Diary of a Lost Girl confirmed Pabst as one of the great pre-talkie directors and established Brooks as an "actress of brilliance, a luminescent personality and a beauty unparalleled in screen history." (Kevin Brownlow). Brooks plays Thymian who, raped by her father's assistant, gives birth to an illegitimate child. When she refuses to marry the obnoxious assistant she is forced to leave the baby and is sent to a strict reform school for ‘wayward’ girls. It’s the second of two major films made by G.W. Pabst in Germany. The other, Pandora’s Box – with Brooks playing the part of Lulu – is usually considered one of the great films of the silent era. I would say that Diary, though not shown as often and not as highly regarded, doubtless because of its complexity and subtle sophistication as much as for its sordid story-line and full-frontal attack on society’s hypocrisies, deserves a higher ranking than Pandora.
The trouble with popularity ratings is that once a film, tune, picture, any work of art, becomes listed as being slightly popular, or even only well-known, its “popularity” can only increase, while others not listed remain off the ladder. Mentions engender yet more mentions, and so do listings.
The music for Diary was provided by pianist John Sweeney. It’s always difficult to write about - silent accompaniment - as it has to be dynamic, emphasising the sturm und drang and delicately floating over the flowery times, while being, ideally, completely unnoticeable. Of course, John Sweeney does it well. A one-man orchestra.
The night started with by a rare and slightly chopped about 1986 Arena documentary by Richard Leacock - a study broadcast shortly after Brooks' death, including one of her champions, Kenneth Tynan, while she talked of her days in Paris and Berlin and her experiences of Hollywood, with extracts from her films. This was one of these one-night only events, as the documentary is not out on DVD and we may well have seen the only copy; again, Diary of a Lost Girl, although it deserves all the praise it can attract, might only come your way once in a lifetime.
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