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Diary of a Lost Girl

Diary of a Lost Girl

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Bittersweet and tragic
Review: "Diary of a Lost Girl" (1929) shows us Louise Brooks at her best. It is the bittersweet tale of a young girl's loss of innocence. The new score by Joseph Turrin truly matches this sentimental film by G.W. Pabst , his second best known silent feature after "Pandora's Box" (1928). There are various close ups of Brooks which demonstrate that she was not only a talented actress, but a true vision of beauty. Her face is absolutely flawless. Buy this movie today on DVD, you will not regret it. The DVD also contains the eighteen minute movie short, " Windy Riley Goes to Hollywood", where one can hear Louise Brooks talk! This was directed by Roscoe " Fatty" Arbuckle under an assumed name.Arbuckle's life and career were devasted by a scandal in the early 1920's, he died not long after making this film short.
Also highly recommended is of course, "Pandora's Box" also starring the lovely Louise Brooks.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Bittersweet and tragic
Review: "Diary of a Lost Girl" (1929) shows us Louise Brooks at her best. It is the bittersweet tale of a young girl's loss of innocence. The new score by Joseph Turrin truly matches this sentimental film by G.W. Pabst , his second best known silent feature after "Pandora's Box" (1928). There are various close ups of Brooks which demonstrate that she was not only a talented actress, but a true vision of beauty. Her face is absolutely flawless. Buy this movie today on DVD, you will not regret it. The DVD also contains the eighteen minute movie short, " Windy Riley Goes to Hollywood", where one can hear Louise Brooks talk! This was directed by Roscoe " Fatty" Arbuckle under an assumed name.Arbuckle's life and career were devasted by a scandal in the early 1920's, he died not long after making this film short.
Also highly recommended is of course, "Pandora's Box" also starring the lovely Louise Brooks.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Probably the most beautiful woman I have ever seen on screen
Review: And she can act. Louise Brooks's restrained but affecting performance elevates what would have been to me a shamelessly sensational and sordid melodrama into moving and compelling entertainment. I am docking this half a star for the abrupt (albeit somewhat positive) ending, and some embarrassingly hammy (and creepy)overacting by several of the key supporting actors; in contrast, all of the supporting actresses did a fine job: notably the hausfrauses playing the former-housemaid-turned-"evil"-stepmother and the kindly brothel madame.

And Ms. Brooks, ah...she can even make the simple act of drinking liquer out of a glass look deliriously fetching and artlessly natural at the same time. I must say, after not being all that taken with oft cited past candidates for most lovely screen actresses of all time (including Gene Tierney, Rita Hayworth, and Hedy Lamarr), I think I have found the face that launched my thousand ships. But really, it's also a very good movie.:)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Probably the most beautiful woman I have ever seen on screen
Review: And she can act. Louise Brooks's restrained but affecting performance elevates what would have been to me a shamelessly sensational and sordid melodrama into moving and compelling entertainment. I am docking this half a star for the abrupt (albeit somewhat positive) ending, and some embarrassingly hammy (and creepy)overacting by several of the key supporting actors; in contrast, all of the supporting actresses did a fine job: notably the hausfrauses playing the former-housemaid-turned-"evil"-stepmother and the kindly brothel madame.

And Ms. Brooks, ah...she can even make the simple act of drinking liquer out of a glass look deliriously fetching and artlessly natural at the same time. I must say, after not being all that taken with oft cited past candidates for most lovely screen actresses of all time (including Gene Tierney, Rita Hayworth, and Hedy Lamarr), I think I have found the face that launched my thousand ships. But really, it's also a very good movie.:)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Young woman copes with all the horrors life throws at her
Review: Following the classic "Pandora's Box", Louise Brooks once again plays a character that is more than a match for her men. Just about every experience a woman can go through in life happens to young Thyamine - rape, birth, death, slavery, prostitution. But she never loses her belief in her own moral strength and superiority and is ultimately trimuphiant.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A silent with no expiration date
Review: Great quality picture dvd. A great movie for those for are afraid to venture into the silent category. The direction, the story, the acting done by Ms. Brooks is superb.

Mr. Pabst's movies need more recognition. When "Pandora's Box" on dvd?

Louise Brooks reminds me of the recent actress in Amelie. Not that they look alike, but because of their radiance, the tremendous impression they make on the viewer. Ms. Brooks's interpretation is so realistic it makes you feel you are really there in the room with her.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Silent Gem
Review: I enjoyed the DVD of "Diary of a Lost Girl", Louise Brooks' second collaboration with G.W. Pabst, although not as much as "Pandora's Box". It is not a sequel, however much this film may seem like one. This film is more sentimental, tragic, and less sexually charged than it's predecessor, and for that reason does not gain a higher rating from me (Pandora's Box being more riske`).

The film is in true black & white (no tinting on this version), and the score is a very suitable composition that is quite appropriate here. The Kino DVD is a fine piece of work and I recommend it to any fan of Brooks or the silent era.

I'm just baffled as to why no one will produce a Region 1 version of "Pandora's Box" on DVD, and give us Diary of a Lost Girl, (somewhat inferior in quality to Pandora's), instead. If only one Louise Brooks film should be transferred to DVD, Pandora's Box must be the first!

But Diary of a Lost Girl is still a good film, and has one or two surprises up its sleeve. I will recommend it on this feature if for no other reason: there aren't many films I can name that are quite like this and Pandora's Box; they are truly unique and quite unlike any other in the history of film.

I also recommend this DVD for the extra short-film "Windy Riley Goes Hollywood". Not because the short is any good, (it's actually pretty lousy), but because it was the first "talkie" by Louise Brooks. I was thrilled when I bought this DVD and finally realized that I would finally get to hear Louise speak as well as watch her act. She was a remarkable natural!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: LOUISE BROOKS IGNITES THE SCREEN
Review: In the era of the silent cinema, no one ignited the screen like Louise Brooks. In the still shocking "Pandora's Box," and in the lurid, 1929 melodrama "DIARY OF A LOST GIRL,", the mysterious charisma and stunning beauty of Brooks are on sensational display. Brooks, the ultimate 20s flapper, plays idealistic and innocent Thymian, who's raped by her unscrupulous pharmacist father's scabrous assistant. She leaves a child behind, escapes a horrible reform school and ends up working in a brothel. The great G.W. Pabst, who directed Brooks in "Pandora" directs again with an invisible hand. This masterpiece of German Expressionism is about 10 minutes longer and has over 80 slightly different cuts than the 1990 English version released on video (Kino). "Diary of a Lost Girl" is an absolutely exquisite film of great emotional power. Close ups of Brooks defy description. She will take your breath away.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: LOUISE BROOKS IGNITES THE SCREEN
Review: In the era of the silent cinema, no one ignited the screen like Louise Brooks. In the still shocking "Pandora's Box," and in the lurid, 1929 melodrama "DIARY OF A LOST GIRL,", the mysterious charisma and stunning beauty of Brooks are on sensational display. Brooks, the ultimate 20s flapper, plays idealistic and innocent Thymian, who's raped by her unscrupulous pharmacist father's scabrous assistant. She leaves a child behind, escapes a horrible reform school and ends up working in a brothel. The great G.W. Pabst, who directed Brooks in "Pandora" directs again with an invisible hand. This masterpiece of German Expressionism is about 10 minutes longer and has over 80 slightly different cuts than the 1990 English version released on video (Kino). "Diary of a Lost Girl" is an absolutely exquisite film of great emotional power. Close ups of Brooks defy description. She will take your breath away.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: stirring tale of sex and tragedy
Review: Louise Brooks in her most challenging part. Innocently pushed in a world of sin and decadence, Miss Brooks gives the peformance of her life. The movie has everything ,all the clichees from orphanage to brothel,but plays with them in a most becoming and ironical way. Nothing is taken to seriously,every other character besides Louise Brooks is played in an almost hysterical and over the top style,but this only more is a testament of Louise Brooks great and very convincing performance.Go and see for yourself


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