Louise Brooks - Looking for Lulu

Starring:Shirley MacLaine, Dana Delany, Louise Brooks, Roddy McDowall, Francis Lederer
Director: Hugh Munro Neely
Studio: Image Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

G.W. Pabst's Pandora's Box serves as a filmic window into the decadent Weimar Republic because of its tauntingly beautiful star, Louise Brooks. Brooks, encompassing the very essence of sexual allure and mystery, is iconically linked to her character, Lulu, the dancer-turned-streetwalker who captivates all men in her path with her elusive beauty. Set in Berlin, 1928, Pandora's Box is about Lulu, an aspiring star whose patron, Dr. Schön (Fritz Kortner), finds loyalty to his fiancé impossible because of Lulu's unsurpassed charm. Schön's son, Alwa, also falls in love with Lulu until a series of tragic incidents render them destitute in London, where Lulu resorts to prostitution and, in a final devastating scene, picks up her final john, Jack the Ripper. In the silent film era, Brooks's expressive face and graceful movements enabled her to epitomize a Roaring Twenties' version of feminism: innocence underpinned by sexual innuendo. Key scenes in Pandora's Box, such as when Lulu thrills at Dr. Schön's fiancé discovering he and Lulu embraced, or when Lulu's gleaming eyes mimic Jack the Ripper's polished knife blade, are radically risqué examples of all-time seductive cinematic moments. The Criterion Collection's beautifully packaged release of Pandora's Box features a thorough booklet of essays and photos, as well as a biographical documentary about Brooks and an interview with Pabst's son, Michael. After languishing in obscurity for many years preceding her death in the '80s, Louise Brooks will now forever be remembered as Lulu, Hollywood's finest vixen. --Trinie Dalton

Description

One of the masters of early German cinema, G.W. Pabst had an innate talent for discovering actresses (including Greta Garbo). And perhaps none of his female stars shone brighter than Kansas native and onetime Ziegfeld girl Louise Brooks, whose legendary persona was defined by Pabst's lurid, controversial melodrama Pandora's Box. Sensationally modern, the film follows the downward spiral of the fiery, brash, yet innocent showgirl Lulu, whose sexual vivacity has a devastating effect on everyone she comes in contact with. Daring and stylish, Pandora's Box is one of silent cinema's great masterworks, and a testament to Brooks's dazzling individuality.

Customer Reviews:

Pandora's Box.......2007-07-06

Not yet received. What happened? (I have seen this excellent film in the past.)

Steven Heiblim

Pandora's Box.......2007-06-20

Tawdry, decadent, and unflinching in its portrait of the moral depravity of the Weimar republic, Pabst's bewitching "Box" might not be remembered today if it weren't for the dark charm of Brooks, one of the silent era's most erotic and stunningly sensual sirens. Playing a flirty cabaret dancer who eventually turns to prostitution to survive in dreary London, Brooks is nothing short of thrilling with her flapper-girl bob and come-hither expressiveness. Pabst surrounds his sympathetic victim-heroine with a leering old codger, a conflicted society man, and even a lesbian admirer, whom she uses to her advantage. But Lulu's light is dimmed by a fateful encounter with Jack the Ripper. Open up "Box" for a haunting risqué take on Jazz Age libertinism.

The Best Silent Film.......2007-06-08

A great silent film. I highly recommend it. also, see "Lulu On The Bridge", a 1999 movie with references to this film.

lulu at the mall.......2007-05-26

as a product the ctiterion edition is tops;great hi-def dvd,truly interesting and informational 2nd desk,and a booklet with fine essays by real film writers.which leads me to the one big flaw;the commentary by Elaessan and Doanne could put a classroom full of ADHD teenagers to sleep.they dont offer anything we dont learn from the 2nd dvd or the booklet,and even less on Pabst.they constanly drift into lame primative marxist analysis or even worse bickering over how many heads of LuLu can you fit into a cocktail glass,during the most exquisite scenes in the film.after listening to the excellant commentary on such critierion editions as the recent Ugetsu and the Ingmar Bergman films,this was a real disappointment.as for the multi tracked sound choices;i just put on the new Soulsavers cd and cranked it up.

Great Movie.......2007-05-13

As a growing fan of the silent film genre, I greatly enjoyed this movie. It has some very interesting scenes for the time in which it was filmed, I thought it was very well made and entertaining.

Average customer rating:

Still Entrancing After 80 Years
If you want to buy this, wait!!!
Louise Brooks -- a retrospective look
Documentary/ Biography originally made for Turner Classic Movies
Next Time, Give More

Louise Brooks - Looking for Lulu
Starring: Louise Brooks , Shirley MacLaine , Dana Delany , Roddy McDowall , and Paolo Cherchi Usai
Director: Hugh Munro Neely
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Biography | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Pandora's Box - Criterion Collection
Diary of a Lost Girl
Lulu in Hollywood: Expanded Edition
Prix de Beaute
Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever

ASIN: B00000IYRF
Release Date: 1999-06-29

Amazon.com

Produced in 1998 for Turner Classic Movies, this documentary is nearly as exceptional as its subject and just as fascinating. Born in Kansas, Louise Brooks rose from the Ziegfeld Follies to become a silent film icon. As biographer Barry Paris writes for this definitive hourlong profile (narrated by Shirley MacLaine), "Lulu" Brooks was "one of the most intensely erotic screen beauties of all time," and her rise, fall, and resurrection make for a fascinating personal history. Paris charts Brooks's controversial and often self-destructive course from Hollywood to Berlin (where she made cinema history in Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl), while insightful interviews and abundant film clips provide breathtaking proof of Lulu's undeniable beauty. Most revealing are clips from a 1976 interview with Brooks, who remained utterly unique, sharply intelligent, and tragically convinced that she'd failed at everything. Looking for Lulu serves as captivating proof that she was wrong. --Jeff Shannon

Description

Film's first and perhaps ultimate modern woman. "Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu" explores the life of one of the silver screen's most enduring and provocative stars, the actress who created the sensual, yet innocent Lulu in G.W. Pabst's classic "Pandora's Box." Narrated by Shirley MacLaine, this critically acclaimed documentary combines rare film footage and photographs with interviews. Particularly fascinating is a previously unseen interview with Louise Brooks, filmed in 1976.

Customer Reviews:

Still Entrancing After 80 Years.......2007-03-20

Louise Brooks (1906-1985) was astonishingly beautiful as well as a gifted dancer and writer. But childhood sexual abuse (at the age of nine) probably destroyed her before she even got started. The original model for the quintessential Roaring Twenties flapper, she inspired a generation of young girls (including my mother!) who yearned for liberation in a rumble seat and a bobbed haircut. The subtlety of her naturalistic acting belied the wild life she led, which is fully and unapologetically chronicled in Barry Paris' comprehensive 1989 biography.

This DVD, narrated by Shirley MacLaine, traces Brooks' life from rural Cherryvale, Kansas to New York, Hollywood, Paris, and beyond. Burning bridges was Brooks' specialty, and she had few regrets. She herself counted her lovers at more than 400, of which one (in 1925) was Charlie Chaplin, then twice her age.

A contemporary of the equally self-destructive Clara Bow (whom Brooks idolized), Brooks is a fascinating study, and this DVD proves it.

If you want to buy this, wait!!!.......2007-03-19

four and a half stars, actually.

Don't buy this DVD seperate--this documentary comes as an extra in the recent Criterion issue of "Pandora's Box"--an incredible issue of an incredible film.

I loved this documentary when I first saw it but then I read Barry Paris' biography--who also wrote this documentary. That book is an incredible and deeply moving experience; I don't recall being so moved by a biography before. That book shows how this film is way too brief--and just begins to get to the heart--and mind--of its subject. Still, for what it is--an introduction--its pretty damned good!

Buy "Pandora's Box" which includes this documentary, plus the complete "Lulu in Berlin": Richard Leacock's filmed interview with Louise from the mid-seventies; with Barry Paris's biography, you'll have everything!!

Louise Brooks -- a retrospective look.......2007-01-20

Basic information on the life of a fascinating personality. But what should have been intriguing was cookie cutter sterile: birth-life-death-rediscovered. However, the interviews with an old Louise Brooks were riveting but way too short and the anecdotes from her niece were an interesting look at her personality from the perspective of her family.

Documentary/ Biography originally made for Turner Classic Movies.......2006-06-12

This 1998 film is narrated by Shirley MacLaine (of "John Goldfarb Please Come Home" 1965 fame). We get to know Louise Brooks from her own words and those that met her. There is some great stock footage and in the end you feel that you know her better and that she actually talked to you.

The ne3xt time you watch her movies you will see them through new eyes and a new appreciation for her acting style.

Next Time, Give More.......2006-05-10

Louise Brooks is often looked over because of her nonchalance about acting and her career. She was a very intelligent woman who was known for her intense sexuality. She made several films, the most important ones being made in Germany like Pandora's Box. Her career was ended when the talkies came, not because her voice did not record well but because she was so arrogant to the studios. Years after she stopped making films, she wrote a series of essays compiled into a book called Lulu in Hollywood which helped to rejuvenate her career.

This documentary is great for novice Brooks fans because it touches on basic information like her early life, transitioning into films, and the end of her career. It does not, however, provide much insight into who Brooks was as a person or truly why she behaved the way she did. It is certainly not a deep exploration into her character or her career. For this, it is slightly disappointing, but recognition is recognition after all, and silent film stars are often lucky to get that.

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