2006 marks the 100th anniversary of Louise Brooks's birth. It's been celebrated by the release of a cool new picture book about the star, "Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever", by Peter Cowie, and a special DVD edition of her most famous film, "Pandora's Box", put out by Criterion, with lots of extras.
Brooks was, like Garbo, a creature who had her being on film -- her way of moving through cinematic space could transcend the films that tried to contain her, transcend the normal conventions of "screen acting". Early in her career she played second lead in a mediocre comedy called "The Show Off". She doesn't seem to be part of the film at all -- she looks like someone who has wandered onto the set while the cameras were rolling and decided to stay and observe the curious behavior of the people around her. She appears to have found this behavior only vaguely amusing, and in this delivers a wise critique of the film from within the film itself. The effect is bizarre.
G. W. Pabst used her uncanny mixture of detachment and sensuality to brilliant effect in "Pandora's Box" -- he was one of the few directors who seems to have realized that a film had to defer to her phenomenal screen persona or risk evaporating around her. It's a film you should watch at least once this year.
Happy birthday, Lulu.