You know how with a Shakespeare play, at first the language seems weird and stilted, and you wonder how anyone could possibly take it seriously.. until you get into the story and then you don't even notice, you're in the play's world. It's the same with silent movies, I think -- it seems strange at first but, with the good ones, you get pulled into their world and you forget the medium and just watch the story. I find that with Louise Brooks anyway -- she's not just beautiful but magnetic and engaging, unequaled at drawing you into her story.


Still, for all that, I don't often feel in the mood for Shakespeare or a Lulu film, even if I know I'll probably enjoy it once it gets going, which is why Prix de Beaute has been sitting by the DVD player for a couple of weeks. The funny thing is, it's not actually silent; it was shot as a silent movie, just on the cusp of the talkie age, and re-edited for sound later (with a French actress dubbing Lulu's parts). But it's an odd hybrid -- the dialogue is minimal, and what there is isn't very well synchronized (or, in Brooks's case, at all), and clearly Brooks was exerting all her silent skills, and that expressive face. Some reviewers find the poor technical execution hard to ignore, but I found, as usual, once I was into the movie, I barely noticed. who cares if her lips don't move at the right spots? why did we think that was so important anyway?

(spoilers ahead) the one thing I had trouble suspending disbelief over was what an ass her fiance is, and that she would listen to him instead of telling him to go to hell. how anyone could make such a big deal over a beauty contest and be so cruel to his love is beyond me. I know, it's the values of another time, but I usually have no problem with that -- I can accept the values of a Jane Austen or a Shakespeare fine. I guess this just seemed beyond the pale. who would marry an ass like that? only the perpetually doomed Louise Brooks. yes, the movie kind of starts off as a bit of fluff (with plenty of bathing beauties, fellows hold on to your hats) but turns dark and ultimately tragic. you just know that when Louise Brooks is paired up with GW Pabst she's going to end up dead at the hands of some love-crazed ass. as usual, Brooks says pretty much everything with her face. her happy scenes are as radiant as anything ever put on film, her canary-in-a-cage misery is forlorn, and in her final moment of joy and then death, she's completely beautiful -- the final moment of her lying dead, with the film of her singing "don't think I'm untrue" running above her is unforgettable.