Diary of a Lost Girl

Since "Diary of a Lost Girl" is my favorite Louise Brooks film, I was looking forward to it being released in blu-ray. I have to admit, I am disappointed in this Kino release. I own the 2001 Kino regular DVD edition of this film and I find it superior to the blu-ray edition in picture, sound, and music.The 2001 edition, in my opinion, has a sharper picture, clearer sound, and much better soundtrack music. Joseph Turrin's full orchestra music in the 2001 edition is beautiful, lush, and fits in perfectly with the film. The piano music in the blu-ray edition is okay, but is sometimes annoying and distractingThe picture quality in the blu-ray edition is my biggest disappointment. The picture is often soft without much high definition, while the 2001 edition oftentimes has a much sharper picture. And the Louise Brooks short subject "Windy Riley Goes Hollywood" is a much better print in the 2001 edition than the one used in the blu-ray edition.I know that trying to present blu-ray editions of silent films from the 1920's can be very problematic, and I applaud any company such as Kino and the Criterion Collection for continuing to make available these wonderful films from the silent era. And I will continue to keep purchasing blu-ray editions of silent films as they are released. I just wish this classic Louise Brooks film in blu-ray had been better.

WOW!!! I never in my wildest dreams thought this silent film classic starring Louise Brooks was coming to DVD! I thought for sure Pandora's Box (Ms. Brooks' most famous film) would come first. And furthermore, I thought Criterion would be the company to release the film, but it looks like Kino's will have the honor. That's not bad, either - Kino's has a LOT of good foreign/silent/independent films, and I've always liked their VCR tapes, so I'm looking forward eagerly to Diary of a Lost Girl.For those not in the know, Louise Brooks was the ultimate flapper girl of the 1920s. She was probably more famous for her haircut, beauty, and lifestyle than her films. But her film legacy is firmly established by two German films she made after leaving Hollywood briefly - Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl, both by G.W. Pabst (one of the legendary silent film directors). Both films, if you can find them, are absolute classics. The German expressionist style has rarely been more beautifully captured than in Pandora's Box (Hitchcock used this style too in a lot of his early black/white films). And I was lucky enough to find a beat-up VHS copy of Diary. If you like silent films, you can't go wrong with this film either! The imagery is stunning, Louise Brooks looks gorgeous and gives a moving performance a young lady who, having lost her virtue, is consequently shunned by society and has to learn to care for herself. I don't like to give away plots, so that's all I'll say, but I am looking forward to owning this film on DVD! Highly recommended!

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!

Louise Brooks was a major star of the 1920's maybe more known for being beautiful and iconic.Discovered by P.W. Pabst - the same Austrian director who discovered Garbo.Louise Brooks made Pandora's Box in 1928, and as she said in an interview, Pabst and her hit it from the first moment, so when Pabst asked her to starr in the second film in his diptych, but couldn't offer much money as this was his own production (she had $1000 a week for Pandora) she didn't hesitate to take the chance of working with the great Pabst.The film itself was brutally edited by distributors as it dealt with critique of the bourgaisie and it's double standards.Louise Brooks has that stunning beauty paired with innocence.Pabst knew Louise was a dancer so he let her dance her role, and to act as herself (the hardest thing to do) and the result is a neglected masterpiece.This is the restored version from 2012 and should be in any serious cinophiles library.Sadly she made one more film after this one, a talkie (dubbed by a not very talented actress) hated the idea of learning a foreign language and got blacklisted by Hollywood as she had no time for fools or dilettantes and was very frank about it, so yes the head of Paramount spread a rumour that she was unrecordable - as she had turned him down accurately.It's a pre neorealistic melodram based on a highly provocative novel from 1906 about the decline of chemist's daughter she get's seduced and raped by her fathers employee (her father who got the maid pregnant, and the maid commits suicide)...'Pabst way of filming, always trying new techniques and casting a great cast makes it more than worthwhile.

Louise Brooks made two silent films in Germany: ‘Die Buchse der Pandora’ (‘Pandora’s Box’) and ‘Tagebuch einer Verlorenen’ (‘Diary of a Lost Girl’). I already have the former in an excellent special edition DVD from Second Sight. It’s an impressive salacious, atmospheric melodrama - and naturally I hoped that this movie would be just as compelling.Made in six weeks, in 1929, ‘Diary of a Lost Girl’ is an example of what the Germans termed ‘Strassenfilm’ (or ‘street film’), a genre of ‘New Objectivity’ that explored the economic and moral decay of 1920s Europe. Its director GW Pabst seems to have been a meister of such miserable movies: his appropriately-titled 1925 silent ‘The Joyless Street’ featured both Asta Nielsen and Greta Garbo. Then, in the ‘talkies’ era, Pabst turned Kurt Weill’s ‘Threepenny Opera’ into a 1931 film, continuing his penchant for tales of criminals and other lowlifes. To a lesser extent ‘Pandora’s Box’ also belongs to the ‘strassenfilm’ category; it’s all rather glamorous and theatrical, early on, before turning seedier and more desperate for Brooks’ character Lulu. And, in ‘Diary of a Lost Girl’, she plays another unfortunate young woman, called Thymian Henning, who initially gets sent away to a strict reform school. The film has its interesting moments, with that lovely look of vintage Weimar cinema, though overall, I much prefer ‘Pandora’s Box’. Still, this film does offer something different - and there are precious few available films featuring this iconic star.‘Diary of a Lost Girl’ lasts 107 minutes, and has been nicely restored by the FW Murnau Institute. Unusually though, for a ‘Masters of Cinema’ release, there’s no bonus material on the disc itself (so I’d say it’s worth paying a little more for the ‘dual edition’ Blu-Ray). There is a forty page booklet with extra information on both star and director. along with a note suggesting that the film is best seen without music, so that the viewer can fully appreciate the power of Pabst’s visuals - and as the accompaniment, on this DVD, is a rather tiresome, relentless piano score, I’m not surprised by this advice (!)

The beauty of this film and its eternal star have been well covered elsewhere, so here is just a short note on the differences between the European Region 2 Eureka! 'Masters Of Cinema' release and the US Region 1 Kino Video DVD.Firstly, the original US DVD has the amazing bonus 1930 short (18 min.) feature "Windy Riley Goes Hollywood" which is currently the ONLY speaking Brooks film on DVD (we're not counting the cheap 'n' shoddy US DVD-Rs here). A spectacular little gem, that although somewhat degraded in both picture and sound, shows the beautiful Louise in talking and dancing brilliance. And she sounds like an angel. If only there'd have been more. This comedy gem was directed by Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle after his criminal and unfair Hollywood blacklisting and was one of his final works too. Probobaly the best print of this short available.The main feature is not as good as the Eureka Region 2 DVD (which is not going to be surpassed) but certainly looks great. Worth the money for "Windy Riley..." alone.Of course, the Eureka Region 2 DVD is stunning. A fantastic looking print, great bonuses and an informative book ('booklet' doesn't do it justice). If you're a fan of Louise then I'd highly recommend both.

Fabulous! Now known primarily as a style icon whose haircut is imitated by numerous hipster young ladies in Brooklyn and Berlin we should remember Louise Brooks for the major film star she was back between the world wars. One of her two best films yes, it is silent and it is black & white but do not let this deter you or your kids from watching it. A morality tale worthy of D.W. Griffith it could almost be a chapter in his incredible epic Intolerance. Brooks plays her role well, be it up, down and then up, she never is less than believable and the direction of Georg Wilhelm Pabst makes this one of the great films of the Weimar Republic era.

I just want to mention that this particular DVD edition includes a 40-page booklet with various pieces of information on Pabst and Louise Brooks, including writings from Louise herself, which makes quite a good read.And, as someone else mentioned already, if you like this, you should also watch "Pandora's Box", also directed by Pabst and featuring Louise Brooks.