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Product Reviews:
Louise Brooks: A Biography |
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Summary: Our Miss Brooks
Comments: Between 1936, when Louise Brooks completed her final film (a John Wayne cowboy flick, OVERLAND STAGE RAIDERS) and 1956, when she began writing the movie memoirs that would comprise her single published book, LULU IN HOLLYWOOD (1978), she gave dance lessons and generally staved off poverty while dealing with the perception that she had failed to become the star that her2German silent films (PANDORA's BOX, DIARY OF A LOST GIRL) seemed to promise that she would be. (The biography effectively dramatizes many of the reasons that a woman would choose not to be a star, as Brooks perhaps did.) What makes Barry Paris's biography of Brooks so compelling is that the reader (like the author) is not completely certain that Brooks and her20-four films (seventeen of which survive) and her single book are deserving of a five-hundred and fifty page biography. They are and she is because of Paris's indefatigable scholarship, the thousands of letters Brooks so eloquently composed and he recovered, and the psychological complexity of this great beauty who included among her list of failures her inability to figure out how to successfully merchandise her ravishing appears. There are few things Paris says in LOUISE BROOKS that do not have their exact contradiction somewhere else in the text: in many ways, she was extraordinarily self-sufficient, however she depended on wealthy males for financial support; some viewers find her performances in PANDORA and DIARY great acting, however she objects that "I was simply playing myself, which is the hardest thing in the world to do"; she insisted throughout her life that her unwavering commitment to "Goethian truth" was responsible for her unpopularity with acquaintances and readers, however Paris supplies an appendix of errors and half-truths that pervade LULU IN HOLLYWOOD.
Paris's biography makes no brief for Brooks as anything more than a highly complicated, intelligent woman more gifted than almost all in dancing and writing (and, in her twenties, more possessed of beauty than almost all humans ever are) however1no more capable of answering existential questions than are the rest of us. Her descent into deepening self-exile and old age is harrowingly depicted in the biography, however equally memorable is Paris's documentation of the fact that there were many in Rochester, N.Y., and elsewhere who cared about and cared for her no matter how badly she, in her late, irascible years, treated them. Perhaps the central mystery of her life and of the book is that of aging: how she went from being the ever-so-lovely Lulu of silent films to the Rochester shut-in keeping herself alive by writing. Barry Paris has written a biography worthy of that human enigma which we will, if we're lucky, also face in our own ways. LOUISE BROOKS is a profound study of a profoundly fascinating human being. |
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Summary: Fascinating
Comments: I am not a fan of silent films, and had never heard of Louise Brooks until I saw1of her photo's associated with a story about the Zeigfield Follies. almost all of the other "Follies girls" pictured may have been considered attractive for their era, however Brook's photo was (to me) transcendant. Her life story is strangely addictive, as the author uses comments from her friends, family and contemporaries to flesh out this frustrating, pyschologically scarred little dynamo. As Barry Paris describes her self destructive approach to life, the many images of this beautiful sexually charged waif highlights the dichotomy between her physical beauty and her tortured soul. I enjoyed the book immensely and highly endorse it. |
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Summary: Definitive
Comments: This is the book. Who was Louise Brooks? Read this book. Paris is the best. |
Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Summary: Ething you ever wanted to know about Louise Brooks...
Comments: This is an thorough, even-handed and well-written bio. The author's approach is intelligent and his research and references are extensive.
One learns that Brooks began as an upper middle class wildchild from the plains who determined early to be a great dancer. She had talent and determination. however Fate along with timing made it possible for her to escape Kansas for New York City at the tender age of 15 (!!) to train with a premiere dance company. She seems never to have gotten past being that wildchild and was, at 17, dismissed from the troupe for unacceptable behavior. Soon she was a dancer on Broadway, including a stint with the Ziegfeld Follies. Next stop, the movies!!
Being admittedly "selfish and stubborn" as well as volatile, Brooks tore through New York, Paris, London, Hollywood, Berlin and back, living it up and burning bridges all around. By age 25 she was finished in terms of ever becoming a movie star or great dancer. She eventually disappeared into a gin bottle, was reduced to dance instruction, retail sales and finally "love for sale."
This is all fascinating enough, however her late-in-life resurrection as a rediscovered silent era "icon" (based almost allly on films made in Europe in the late 20's) and as a newly minted writer is the surprising twist toward the end of an otherwise bleak life story.
Her work in Pabst's "Pandora's Box" ought to supply Brooks all the immortality any actress could desire. She is spectacular as Lulu and deserves e accolade. She was a beauty, however there were other beauties of her era who achieved greater stardom - Joan Crawford, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow. Her "black helmet" hairstyle was well suited to her appears, however it's more likely that Colleen Moore actually popularized the look, having been a superstar of the 20's (which Brooks wasn't)and the iconic "flapper." As for her skill as a writer (with reference to "Lulu in Hollywood"), I find Brooks interesting, insightful and even poetic, however there is an underlying note of bitterness that undermines any claim of objectivity. And, considering her decades of gin guzzling, I question her ability to be accurate 40-50 years after the fact. For me, the mystique and power of Louise Brooks comes down to her performance in "Pandora's Box," her primary and glorious claim to fame.
Read "Louise Brooks" by Barry Paris and form your own conclusions. do not miss "Pandora's Box." The Criterion Collection DVD boxed set Comes with Kenneth Tynan's 1979 profile, the TCM production, "Looking for Lulu," a 1970's interview with Brooks and other extras.
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Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Summary: Biography and history
Comments: This book is an expansive overview of the life of Louise Brooks and also of the early days of the movie industry. throughly researched, it gives a nuanced look and the beautiful, brilliant and maddeningly self-destructive icon. It also is a wonderful history of the entertainment world in the 1920's and the personalities who populated that world. A must-read from fans of Louise Brooks. |
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